27/09/2025
The Lotus Tower’s revenue is only two rupees and fifty cents (2.50%) 🐂 With love to the “Bayyas”...
That tower you proudly boast of was originally planned to be a communications tower – not in Maradana, Colombo, but in Peliyagoda. Back then, it had no lotus shape. It was shifted to Maradana and given a lotus-bud design simply to satisfy the egotistical vanity of Mahinda Rajapaksa, not because of any practical purpose.
According to Transparency International (TISL), the total expenditure on the tower was between Rs. 16–17 billion. That includes:
⚠️ Construction costs of USD 113,600,000 (USD 113 million)
⚠️ Consultancy fees of Rs. 337,485,020 (Rs. 337 million)
⚠️ Management fees and loan servicing costs of Rs. 222,369,357 (Rs. 222 million)
⚠️ Utilities such as water and electricity of Rs. 344,215,750 (Rs. 344 million)
⚠️ Payment to the Urban Development Authority for the land of Rs. 2,250,000,000 (Rs. 2.2 billion)
⚠️ Insurance costs of USD 8,665,612 (USD 8.6 million).
Even excluding land payments and utility costs, Sri Lanka spent close to USD 115 million – over Rs. 15 billion – on this white elephant. Yet in the first decade, the total income we earned from it was less than Rs. 1 billion.
Since demolishing it would also cost us heavily, the Good Governance government decided to lease it out for long-term business use. The Rs. 539 million received so far is the highest income ever earned from the tower. Even if it manages to generate Rs. 500 million annually, it would take 30–35 years just to recover the construction cost. What the world will look like 30–35 years from now is known only to the gods above.
Dear Bayya, allow me to tell you a story…
Once upon a time, a foolish farmer went to the market. A horse trader, seeing him, thought, “This man is a complete fool.” He sold the farmer a dying horse for USD 100, claiming, “This is a talking horse.” When the farmer later complained that the horse didn’t speak, the trader said, “Oh, he’s just shy. Take him home. If he doesn’t talk, give him some jalapala (a strong purgative).” The naive farmer fed the horse jalapala, but the horse died of diarrhoea. In the end, all the farmer had left was a dead horse, having spent all his money.
Luckily, that weekend the farmer’s son came home. Unlike his father, he was clever. He immediately announced a raffle: “A horse for just USD 10!” He printed 1,000 tickets, sold them all, and collected USD 10,000. The raffle winner who came to collect his prize was shown the dead horse. Shocked, he demanded compensation. The son calmly gave him USD 1,000 and sent him away. The net profit? USD 8,900. (I’ll leave the detailed profit-and-loss calculations to you...)
The Lotus Tower is exactly like that dead horse. A useless monument forced upon us. A white elephant. A colossal waste. Don’t be in a rush to celebrate just because a few crumbs of revenue have been earned. We haven’t even begun to cover the real cost of that dead horse.
