Sumal to study judgement

Ravi LADDUWAHETTY

Chairman of Asia Pacific Golf Courses (Pvt) Ltd Sumal Perera asserted yesterday that the Urban Development Authority (UDA) owed him and his company Rs. 2.5 billion for the Water’s Edge property following the landmark Supreme Court judgment which determined the project illegal and void.

“My company has invested Rs. 2.5 billion and it is up to the UDA to reimburse these funds when we hand over the property next February as that was the worth of the project,” Perera told Daily News Business when contacted for his response in the aftermath of the Supreme Court judgment.

“We do not know on what basis the UDA valuers will value the property and we do not know whether they will pay us the market rates,” he said.

However, when pointed out that the project was illegal from the start going by media reports which highlighted it over the years, he said that he made the investment trusting the bonafides of the then Government of former President Chandrika Kumaratunga and added that he was not aware of the implications until the judgment was given.

He said he had not read the judgment at the time this newspaper contacted him but added that the Asia Pacific Golf Courses Board of Directors will study the judgment and its implications in detail.

The judgment had also said the golf course company had to return the property by February 2009 and the Water’s Edge will continue as the Urban Development Authority property.

He also said the Court has allowed him to continue the operation until the UDA acquisition in February but he stressed that he did not know what to do under the circumstances.

The Board of Directors of the company will have to study all the aspects of the practicalities of running the Water’s Edge under the present circumstances, he said.

Asked what his sentiments were about losing the prime leisure and entertainment property, he sounded philosophical when he said that all was impermanent. He also said that he was not going to make any more investments in Sri Lanka.

However, when pointed out that there was ample scope for golf courses in the rest of the country without going into controversial projects and state owned land, he said he has to consider the investment climate in the country at that stage.