Foreigners will not be given freehold land ownership - Ravi

Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake says that foreigners will not be given freehold land ownership and that instead they will be allowed to obtain land on a 99-year lease. 

The same formula applies to the Colombo Port City project, the minister said while addressing the Parliament today (2).

He stated that none of the existing regulations pertaining to transferring ownership of lands to foreigners have been removed and that only the tax imposed on leasing of land to foreigners has been removed.  

Presenting the 2016 Budget last month, the Finance Minister had proposed the removal of the tax imposed on leasing of land to foreigners and also to remove all restrictions on ownership of identified investments imposed through the land restriction on alienation act.