Overseas Realty (Ceylon) PLC (ORC) will start Phase – 3 of its Havelock City Project (HCP) early next year to be completed within three years, according to officials. “This will encompass three towers, with an additional 405 residential units,” Pravir Samarasinghe, Group CEO ORC, who took up his appointment mid this month, told the Business Times.
Literally the ‘new kid on the block’ at the World Trade Centre (WTC) which ORC owns, Mr. Samarasinghe said that HCP’s Phase - 2 has been very encouraging and has seen 25% of its apartments snapped up within February when it was launched.
He said that ORC’s vision is to be the undisputed premier property development company in Sri Lanka with a portfolio of investment properties generating steady recurring revenues and continuous development of real estate for trading purposes.
“We’ll also expand into other property related services soon including absentee landlord management and third party facilities management to name a few,” Mr. Samarasinghe said. He added that the revival of the sector in general, the expected increase in rental rates and occupancy levels at WTC and pick up in apartment sales at Havelock City will enhance ORC’s earnings this year.
Built on an 18 acre land in Colombo, Havelock City is an integrated mix development – the largest residential cum commercial development in the country and even in the South Asian region, and once completed, would comprise 1,080 apartments, a modern shopping mall, office complex, recreational and entertainment facilities in line with its ‘city within a city’ concept.
Mr. Samarasinghe said that the real estate sector is highly sensitive to economic conditions; the sky high interest rates and inflation, collapse of financial institutions and several other adverse macro-economic and political factors that prevailed three years’ ago, led to the slowdown of the sector, where both residential and the commercial property development were affected.
“But now we see growing interest on commercial and residential accommodation and the aggressive fast tracking of the Havelock City Project is set to capitalize on this surge. We also see this demand now coming from Sri Lankan expatriates and foreign buyers, in addition to the local business and professional community,” he said. He said that the decline in interest rates and improvement in other macro level indicators subsequent to the end of the war created the positive sentiments.
Mr. Samarasinghe who completed 20 years at Richard Pieris’ prior to joining ORC commented, “Yes, I was looking for a change in scope and challenge, after having achieved strong performance growth in the last eight years as Group director/COO, in which group turnover increased from Rs 4.4 billion to Rs 26 billion, profit before tax from Rs. 180 million to Rs.2, 400 million and market capitalization from Rs. 2.2 billion to Rs. 29 billion and importantly, a high return on equity of 40%. I believe the services sector including property will drive the country’s next phase of growth in the coming decade,” he said.
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