In addition to the historic Nuwara Eliya post office, the Urban Development Authority (UDA) will offer two more post office buildings in Diyatalawa and Galle, as well as three more ancient buildings in Kandy and Nuwara Eliya, for hotel projects.
According to an official, the revenue generated by the post office buildings offered to the hotel industry would be transferred to the loss-making Postal Department.
According to UDA Director General Prasad Ranaweera, the Diyathalawa and Galle post offices, which were designed by Dutch architects, would be leased out for hotel projects under the proposed plan.
The UDA has already purchased the Nuwara Eliya post office building from the Post Master General, and the complex would be renovated to allow postal services to continue, while the rest of the area, including one acre of land, would be offered for the hotel project.
Mr. Ranaweera stated that the handing over of letters and parcels, as well as the sale of stamps, would take place at the post office, while the operational and administrative sectors would be relocated to a nearby Nuwara Eliya Municipal Council land.
One of the unique features would be that those working in the postal and hotel sectors would be dressed in traditional postal uniforms.
Among the other buildings in Nuwara Eliya to be offered for hotel projects are the Inland Revenue and Ports Authority bungalows, while in Kandy, the Ehelepola Wallwa, a historic building, is to be offered for a similar project.
The DG said President Ranil Wickremesinghe had directed that an investor be found for the Kandy post office and for a proposed hotel project.
Source: Sunday Times
