The much awaited and long overdue Lotus Tower (Nelum Kuluna) is scheduled to open in May/June this year adding another icon to the island nation.

Over 96% of construction has now been completed. Built with an investment of US$ 104.3 million and funded by Chinese EXIM bank, the tower would firstly offer facilities to enhance the digital infrastructure of Sri Lanka. Standing at over 350 meters tall making it the world’s 19th tallest tower it would also serve as a major tourist attraction. “This incidentally would also be the tallest structure in the entire SAARC region,” said, Prof. Nimal De Silva, Senior Engineer of the Lotus Tower project.

The first and second floors of the tower, located at 215 meters and 219.8 meters, are to be used for TV and radio broadcasting.The tower will be able to accommodate, 50 radio broadcasters, 20 telecommunication service providers and 50 television broadcasters. At a guided tower of the Lotus Tower, Chanaka Abeykoon, Administration Manager, Lotus Tower projec said it will also offer two banquet/conference halls in two floors to accommodate nearly 450 guests on each floor. In addition there would be several VIP rooms as well and a special area to view Colombo city and the pending Colombo Port City project. “However the major draw would be the revolving restaurant on the top floor which would do one round in 90 minutes.”

The seven acre land where ‘Nelum Kuluna’ is housed also has several other recreation facilities.

Currently nearly 500 are working with a ratio of 30 (Sri Lankan) to 70 (Chinese). The Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) would be handling the administration of the project while the Moratuwa University is handling, overseeing the construction.

The foundation stone was laid on January 20, 2012 for the USD104.3 million Lotus Tower project. Though the Lotus Tower is set to open in a few weeks the public as well as the private sector has not been given a thorough knowledge of its facilities. It was observed that two floors have being allocated for shopping malls with several escalator access but shopping spaces are yet to be tendered. Similarly marketing is yet to start for its large conference and banquet facilities.

Source: http://www.dailynews.lk/2018/03/02/business/144350/lotus-tower-open-soon