The buildings related to the railway stations owned by the Sri Lanka Railways are centralized in urban areas with very high commercial value. Considering the current use of those buildings and lands owned by the Sri Lanka Railways, it has been confirmed that their economic potential has not been utilized positively yet.
Marking a unique turning point in the journey towards sustainable development through innovation in the transport sector, there is a high potential to develop the land and buildings around Colombo as commercial centers. Therefore, a joint proposal on “improving and modernization of the old railway stations and converting to commercial centers under the Public Private Partnership “was made to the Cabinet of Ministers by the Urban Development Authority, Sri Lanka Railways and other related stakeholders and was approved. Accordingly, a new system is being prepared by the Ministry of Transport and Highways for the implementation of above proposal.
6 railway stations i.e. Wellawatta, Bambalapitiya, Kolpity Dehiwala, Mount Lavinia, and Slave Island have been proposed for the initial phase of this project. Apart from this, the Ministry of Transport and Highways is also considering other railway stations for which the investors expressed their interest.
Primary responsibility of the public sector is the development of infrastructure, although the specialty of this new project proposed as a business modality and will be implemented in a way to get financial benefit along with the development of the infrastructure. It is also expected to provide facilities for the people as well as for commercial activities so that the people can adapt to a comfortable lifestyle by meeting the multiple needs through the railway stations that are being reconstructed. Furthermore, as an indirect benefit of this project, the beautification of the city will enhance by increasing the local and foreign tourist attraction and thus the contribution to the promotion of the tourism sector will be enormous.
In order to fulfil the said objectives, the Ministry of Transport and Highways has made an open invitation to local and foreign investors to express their interest from 01st April 2024 onwards and the detailed information and guidelines will be provided to the investors/ public by the www.transport.gov.lk website.