The Hon. (Dr.) Hiniduma Sunil Senevi - Minister of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, briefly on the background: it is about 76 acres owned by Don Simon Wijewickrama Samarakoon, known as “Regidale Estate” in Kahapola. As you noted, the inauguration plaque says “A Unique Gift to Buddhist People All Over the World.” Now it is an abandoned, overgrown site with only about 5% progress in three years. As you also implied, a visitor could be misled about what it is. Title history is complex: it has moved among the Public Trustee Department, Sri Lanka Land Reclamation and Development Corporation, back to the Ministry of Buddhasasana, then to the Department of National Zoological Gardens, and again to the Ministry of Buddhasasana, with the note that proper title transfer has not been effected. Given its proximity to Colombo and the haphazard, plan-less construction, we submitted a Cabinet Paper on 20.12.2024 to regularize and determine next steps.