Hyatt and Hilton Hotels have attracted 88 enquiries so far from international investors’

The government has already received 88 enquiries for the  Hyatt and Hilton Hotels from leading investors from all over the world following the publicity given to the concerns by the government in the international and local media last week, Minister of Finance and Mass Media  Mangala Samaraweera said.

” We have published both in local and foreign newspapers in order to look for potential investors for both properties and have extended by another ten days or two weeks the period for the submission of applications by potential investors, Minister Samaraweera told a media conference to mark the launch of a hotline for the transmission of complaints by the public on the “Enterprise Sri Lank” programme.

He said that once the authorities short listed and selected the investors for both properties they will be afforded an opportunity to develop them.Minister Samaraweera said that the government is following a transparent mechanism on the divestiture process of Hyatt and Hilton Hotels. ‘The Ministry of Finance and Mass Media and the Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs published an advertisement calling for ‘expressions of interest’ for the Hyatt and Hilton Hotels. The advertisement said that the interested parties should submit their applications  before October 31 but now we have extended the deadline by another ten days, the minister said.

Minister Samaraweera  elaborating on the government’s flagship project “Enterprise Sri Lanka” said that they have already granted 29,389 loans to  people in many districts amounting to Rs. 54,817 million. This project was initiated as a 2017 budget proposal in order to create 100,000 young entrepreneurs within a year, he said

Samaraweera said that initially Peoples Bank, Bank of Ceylon and Rural Development Bank were offering loans but now private sector banks have also shown an interest in awarding loans under this programme.

At present 18  state and private banks have joined the scheme, he said.

”  An information hotline has been created in order to entertain information from public on the program as sometimes certain banks discourage interested borrowers from obtaining loans, he said.

‘It is said that the green loan, home stay loan and Diri Saviya loans are very popular among many people, he added.