President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s government has decided to retain the 130-year-old iconic Nuwara Eliya Post Office building exclusively for the operations of the Postal Department, suspending the former government’s plans related to tourism.
Announcing the decision, Minister Vijitha Herath said the Nuwara Eliya Post Office property will be safeguarded solely for the use of the Postal Department and will not be released for any other purpose.
He also informed that all decisions previously made regarding the Nuwara Eliya Post Office property will be suspended.
The former government had made plans to hand over the Nuwara Eliya Post Office to the Taj Samudra Hotel as a hotel project to improve tourism in the area.
In November last year, protests were held against the government’s plan, prompting then-President Ranil Wickremesinghe to clarify that plans were only made to set up hotels in the lands surrounding the Post Office building.
Reiterating that there were no plans to demolish the Post office building, then President Ranil Wickremesinghe said it was only proposed to renovate the building. (Newswire)
