SRI LANKA. Two duty free retailers and a food & beverage operator, all international entities, have confirmed their investments in a new downtown duty free shopping mall in Colombo Port City, according to a report in the Sri Lankan weekly newspaper Sunday Observer.
The Moodie Davitt Report can confirm the report and understands the identities of the two duty free players – one an industry giant, the other a highly ambitious independent boutique retailer – but at their request we have agreed to delay publishing details until all formalities are completed.
The development will be the first downtown duty free mall in Sri Lanka and the surrounding region. The US$7 million downtown duty free mall infrastructure work will be completed this month and a further investment of US$6.5 million is in the pipeline for the expansion of duty free operations, the report said.
The Sri Lankan title said the mall will first open as an ‘IKEA Style Warehouse Model’ shopping mall and will transition to a competitive shopping complex in the next five years.
With heavy investment plans for entertainment and leisure activities, Colombo Port City is expected to become a destination for city tourism, aiming to become a regional shopping attraction in the mould of Dubai, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
The China Harbour Engineering Company is investing US$1.4 billion into the project, with USD$1.2 billion already invested.
The Sunday Observer report noted that Port City Colombo is an important section of China’s Belt & Road Initiative.
