Discover Cinnamon Life: South Asia’s Largest Integrated Resort and Entertainment Hub in Colombo, Sri Lanka

Cinnamon Life at City of Dreams is Sri Lanka’s newest and most ambitious luxury hotel, officially opened on October 15, 2024, in the heart of Colombo. Developed by the John Keells Group with an investment of over USD 1.2 billion, Cinnamon Life is not only South Asia's largest integrated resort but also a landmark project that is poised to redefine the country’s tourism landscape. Offering a unique blend of luxury, leisure, and entertainment, this destination is quickly becoming a global attraction for travelers from around the world.
 
A Record-Breaking Development
 
As the largest private investment in Sri Lanka’s history, Cinnamon Life stands as a symbol of progress and modernity. With 687 opulent rooms, the resort is designed to cater to a wide range of guests, including business travelers, leisure vacationers, and those attending major international events. The resort’s state-of-the-art facilities, including grand ballrooms and high-tech conference spaces, have the capacity to host more than 5,000 guests, making it the largest event venue in Colombo. This has positioned the city as a premier destination for global MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) travel.
 
World-Class Culinary Experiences
 
One of the standout features of Cinnamon Life is its culinary excellence. The hotel is staffed by over 1,500 professionals, including 250 of the finest chefs from around the world. Guests can indulge in a wide variety of gourmet dining options, each offering a distinct culinary experience. Whether you are in the mood for a chic French bistro, an American grill, or exquisite local dishes, Cinnamon Life has something for every palate.
 
The resort also offers the most extensive wine selection in Sri Lanka, with an exclusive wine bar that caters to connoisseurs. For those seeking a more refined dining experience, the two-tier Champagne and cocktail bar adds a touch of elegance to the culinary journey.
 
In the coming months, Cinnamon Life is set to expand its culinary offerings even further, with additional dining experiences planned, making it a true foodie destination in South Asia.
 
A Premier Venue for Global Events
 
With its state-of-the-art facilities and impressive infrastructure, Cinnamon Life has quickly established itself as the go-to venue for international conferences, large-scale gatherings, and destination weddings. Its versatile spaces, luxurious ballrooms, and breathtaking settings offer the perfect environment for hosting memorable events. The hotel is expected to attract major international gatherings, further boosting Colombo’s reputation as a global hub for business, entertainment, and tourism.
 
Beyond Luxury: A Celebration of Art and Culture
 
While Cinnamon Life is renowned for its luxury accommodations and entertainment options, it also serves as a living gallery of Sri Lankan art and culture. The hotel proudly showcases over 1,000 commissioned, museum-grade artworks crafted by some of Sri Lanka’s most renowned artists. These works of art are displayed throughout the hotel, blending heritage with contemporary design, and offering guests a unique cultural experience alongside their luxurious stay. This celebration of Sri Lankan artistry reflects Cinnamon Life's commitment to preserving and promoting the country’s rich cultural heritage in a modern setting.
 
Expanding Entertainment and Shopping Options
 
While the hotel officially opened in October 2024, the full scope of the Cinnamon Life project will be realized in mid-2025, with the launch of additional features including a luxury shopping mall, state-of-the-art entertainment areas, a gaming facility, and the ultra-luxurious 113-key ‘Nuwa’ hotel. These upcoming attractions will further cement Cinnamon Life’s status as South Asia’s largest integrated resort and entertainment hub, offering a variety of experiences for both local and international visitors.
 
A Transformative Project for Sri Lanka
 
Krishan Balendra, Chairperson of the John Keells Group, described Cinnamon Life as a transformative development for both the company and the country. “City of Dreams Sri Lanka is an iconic project that will elevate Colombo into a top-tier destination for leisure and entertainment, offering world-class shopping, dining, and lifestyle experiences,” he said. He also emphasized the project’s potential to create jobs and boost the economy, with the full development expected to generate over 20,000 direct and indirect employment opportunities.
 
A Global Destination for MICE Travel and Tourism
 
Thanks to its world-class event spaces, luxury accommodations, and unparalleled entertainment options, Cinnamon Life is rapidly positioning Colombo as a premier global destination for MICE travel. From international conferences to grand weddings, the resort offers the infrastructure and expertise to host large-scale, high-profile events. Its prime location in the heart of Colombo provides easy access to the city’s vibrant culture, making it a convenient and attractive choice for international visitors.
 
Why Cinnamon Life Should Be Your Next Travel Destination
 
With its luxurious accommodations, cutting-edge event venues, and exceptional dining and entertainment options, Cinnamon Life is more than just a hotel—it’s a destination in itself. Whether you're looking to host a grand event, indulge in world-class cuisine, or experience Sri Lanka’s rich cultural heritage in a modern setting, Cinnamon Life has something for every traveler.
 
As the largest integrated resort in South
 
Asia, Cinnamon Life promises to captivate visitors from around the world, offering a perfect blend of luxury, culture, and entertainment. With its ambitious vision and global appeal, this extraordinary development is set to become the crown jewel of Sri Lanka’s tourism industry.
 
Final Phase and Future Developments
 
The final phase of the Cinnamon Life project is set to open in mid-2025, with the launch of additional luxury features, including a high-end shopping mall, entertainment zones, and the ultra-exclusive ‘Nuwa’ hotel. These developments will further enhance the guest experience and attract an even broader range of visitors from around the world.
 
In the years to come, Cinnamon Life is expected to play a key role in driving tourism to Sri Lanka, contributing significantly to the country’s economy and cementing its status as a global tourism destination.
 
Plan your visit to Cinnamon Life at City of Dreams and experience the best of Sri Lankan luxury, culture, and entertainment.

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Dec 08, Washington, DC: The United States said it remains deeply concerned about actions surrounding the ongoing impeachment trial of Sri Lankan Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake.
Reiterating the statement issued by the US Embassy in Colombo Friday, the State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mark C. Toner urged the Sri Lankan government to guarantee due process, and to ensure that all investigations are conducted transparently and in accordance with the rule of law.
"These latest developments are part of a disturbing deterioration of democratic norms in Sri Lanka, including infringement on the independence of the judiciary. The United States, along with our partners in the international community, continues to urge Sri Lanka to uphold the rule of law and democratic governance and to continue to address outstanding accountability and reconciliation issues," Toner said in a statement.
The Chief Justice walked out of the PSC hearing Thursday saying that she has no faith in the process and the opposition members of the PSC followed her Friday saying that they too have no faith in the PSC and could not be a party to an unfair process.

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Sri Lanka ruling alliance group to sign a petition to safeguard 13th Amendment

 
Dec 08, Colombo: Sri Lanka's ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) sources say that a group of ruling alliance political parties and several ministers have initiated a petition signing campaign against abolishing the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
The petition highlighting the need of safeguarding the 13th Amendment to the Constitution is to be handed over to the President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Collecting of signatures to the petition commenced on December 07 at the parliament, sources said.
A discussion has been held at parliament in regard of the petition with the participation of a number of minority community and leftist political parties.
Sri Lanka Freedom Party Minister and former Chief Minister of Western Province Reginald Cooray also has participated in this meeting.
Sources further say that Sri Lanka Freedom Party Ministers Dr. Rajitha Senaratne and Dilan Perera have also expressed solidarity to this move but they have refrained from participating in the meeting due to parliamentary select committee procedure on impeachment against Chief Justice.

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Three out of five charges against CJ proven

Leader of the House and member of the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC), Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva says three out of five charges (1,4,5) against Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake have been proven at the PSC inquiry held on the impeachment. Speaking in parliament today, Minister De Silva had stated the CJ has been proven guilty of the following three charges against her: the issue concerning the Trillium property, failing to declare certain bank assets and liabilities and being biased against legal action initiated against her husband at the Magistrate's Court of Colombo in connection with the offences regarding acts of bribery and/or corruption under the Commission to Investigate into Allegations of Bribery or Corruption Act. He had also stated that proof of the three charges against the CJ is sufficient to remove her from the position while adding that nine other charges that were brought against her have been disregarded. A total of 14 charges were brought against the CJ and only five have been investigated by the PSC. Meanwhile, Minister Dilan Perera who is also a member of the PSC, speaking in parliament today had stated the CJ said she never withdrew from the Ceylinco case on her own and claimed she was surprised to know the case was removed from her. (LP)

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FULL SPEECH OF THE BUDGET 2013

Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his capacity as Finance and Planning Minister presented the budget for 2013 in Parliament on Thursday, November 08 2012. This is the 66th budget of Sri Lanka since independence and 8th budget presented by the President in his capacity as the Finance & Planning Minister.

Full speech of the Budget 2013

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President emphasizes that all are equal before the Law

President Mahinda Rajapaksa declare opening several developments made to the Southern Expressway including the 'Canowin Arcade'- the newly built rest area at Welipenna emphasized that all are equal before the law, and justice should be meted out to anyone irrespective of their status.

The President said that when efforts are made in line with constitutional provisions to mete out justice to people accused of malpractices, the accused have made it a practice to blame the government in return. He said those who wanted corruption and malpractice to be rooted out are now protesting when the government is doing exactly what they wanted.

Speaking further the President said he had the utmost respect for the Judiciary and following the elimination of terrorism from the soil of this country anyone has the freedom to express their opinions and move about anywhere freely.  He recalled the hardships underwent by the people during the period they live under fear and suspicion.

The rest area 'Canowin Arcade' declared open by the President at Welipenne in the Expressway comprises rest rooms, restaurants, fuel stations, children's play area, supermarkets, service stations, ATM machines, vehicle park, first aid and clothing shops. The Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation has been entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining and managing the rest area.The rest areas on either side of the road have been constructed in an eco - friendly manner.

Before coming to Welipenna, the President also opened the entrance to the new Kottawa exchange which connects the Southern Expressway to the Outer Circular Expressway being built around the city of Colombo. This terminal will comprise five entries and eight exits. The Southern Expressway will be connected to Colombo-Kandy Expressway and Colombo-Katunayake Airport Expressway under construction via the Colombo Outer Circular Expressway. (niz)

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Big boost for environment-friendly tourism

Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa Thursday (06) launched a programme to provide pradeshiya sabhas with infrastructure facilities for garbage disposal in areas marked for tourism development.  The objective is to create environment-friendly tourism regions in the country.

At present Sri Lanka has six tourism regions – Bentota, Kalpitiya, Pasikuda in Batticaloa, Kuchchuweli in Trincomalee, Vakaray and Yala.  The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) has modernized tourism regions in the North and East to make them attractive to visitors, under the guidance of Minister Basil Rajapaksa after the end of a 30-year war.

The Minister Basil Rajapaksa presented tractors and trailers to the Bentota and Pasikuda Pradeshiya Sabhas.  Chairman, Bentota Pradeshiya Sabha, Gayan Sirimanne and Secretary, Valachchena Pradeshiya Sabha, N. Siyabdeen are seen here accepting the tractors and trailers.

Sri Lanka’s first environmental tourism region was begun in a 700 acre-area in Bentota in 1970.  It comprised seven hotels with 630 rooms. The second tourism region was started in Kalpitiya comprising 14 islets with an extent of 4000 acres.The Pasikuda tourism region, Batticaloa begun in 2009 comprises 14 hotels with 930 rooms built in a 156 acre-area. The Kuchchuweli tourism region, Trincomalee covers a 590 acre area. The extent of the Vakaray tourism region is 73 acres.  It is the Tourism Development Authority that undertook the well-planned development of these areas under Minister Basil Rajapaksa’s guidance.

By now tourist arrivals in the island is rapidly increasing and a number of programmes catering to their needs have been launched under infrastructure development.  Accordingly, the SLTDA has decided to provide tourism regions next year too with beach cleaning equipment, diving equipment and life saving equipment as well as give training  in life saving.   In addition the SLDTA has taken steps to build tourism shopping centres in the Bentota, Beruwala, Hikkaduwa, Kalutara, Negombo and Pasikuda under the minister’s guidance, according to Mihira Liyanarachchi, Director SLTDA Domestic Tourism Resorts.

 Child Development and Women’s Affairs Deputy Minister MLAM Hizbullah, Resettlement Deputy Minister Vinayagamurthi Muralidaran, SLFP Organiser Bentara-Elpitiya Geetha Kumarasinghe, SLTDA Chairman Bhashwara Gunawardena and Director Mihira Liyanarachi participated in the launching of the infrastructure development programme.

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Impeachment resolution on the Sri Lanka Chief Justice submitted to Parliament

Sri Lanka Parliament is to allocate 10 day for the debate on the resolution on the Impeachment of  country's top judge. Parliament was told  that 10 days will be allocated for the debate on the resolution on the impeachment against the country's top Judge, submitted by the Parliamentary select committee on Saturday.

The Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) after having concluded its probe on the impeachment of  CJ submitted its report Saturday morning in the Parliament when it met for the last day in the year.

Parliament Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa, had appointed an 11-member select committee, seven of them from the ruling party, to investigate 14 charges against the Chief Justice Dr Shirani Bandaranayake ranging from not disclosing her wealth to professional misconduct.

The four opposition members on the impeachment committee withdrew from it on Friday citing injustice.

According to the Standing orders the Parliament has to wait for one month once the resolution is submitted to Parliament for any further action. Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa announced in Parliament that he was ready to allocate 10 days for a debate on the resolution after the legally required one month time.

The procedures of the PSC, in accordance with the Article 78 of the Standing orders of the Parliament  precludes taking any action after the resolution is submitted until the expiry of one month.

The Standing order 78 reads as follows.

*78A. (1) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Standing Orders, where notice of

a resolution for the presentation of an address to the President for the removal of a Judge from

office is given to the Speaker in accordance with Article 107 of the Constitution, the Speaker

shall entertain such resolution and place it on the Order Paper of Parliament but such

resolution shall not be proceeded with until after the expiration of a period of one month from

the date on which the Select Committee appointed under paragraph (2) of this Order has

reported to Parliament.

(2) Where a resolution referred to the paragraph (1) of this Order is placed on the Order Paper

of Parliament, the Speaker shall appoint a Select Committee of Parliament consisting of not

less than seven members to investigate and report to Parliament on the allegations of

misbehaviour or incapacity set out in such resolution.

Meanwhile the chairman of the PSC Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa who himself is a lawyer told this edition that a comprehensive report has been submitted to Parliament on the motion.

Parliament will meet on January 8, 2013 and the end of the debate it will have to be passed with a simple majority. The ruling government has more than two third majority in the Parliament and it could easily be passed.

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CJ explains why she walked out

Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake has walked out of the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) in the face of hostile and biased conduct of the government members of the PS so as to ensure the dignity of the judiciary of Sri Lanka, a statement said.

The Chief Justice reiterated that she is innocent of the false charges made against her and is always willing to face any impartial tribunal in order to vindicate herself, a statement issued by Lawyers Collective, an umbrella organization of a numbers of lawyers’ associations and independent lawyers.

Describing the events that led the CJ’s decision to walk out of the PSC, Lawyers Collective stated as follows.  The PSC was requested as far back as November 20 to furnish the information required to reply the allegations. This information was never provided. When the PSC commenced sitting on November 23, 2012, her counsel had had requested that a list of witnesses and a list of documents relied upon in support of the allegations be made available.

It is common knowledge that even in a disciplinary inquiry in the public service or a trivial criminal case that a respondent or accused is furnished with a list of witnesses and documents so that they could prepare for the defence, it observed. The PSC failed to meet this basic requirement at any of its sitting. On Thursday, December 6 about 4pm, the PSC had handed over a bundle of documents consisting of approximately 1000 pages and required the chief justice to respond by 1.30 pm tomorrow, i.e. in less than 24 hours. It was obvious that a majority of the members of the PSC had no real intention to give the chief justice a fair hearing.

In addition to the above, at various stages of the proceedings of the PSC, two members hurled abuse at the Chief Justice and her lawyers and it became evident that these members had been mandated to ridicule the head of the judiciary and the legal profession. The Select Committee was requested numerous times to formulate the procedure that it intended to follow. There was no response to this request until today.

On Thursday, when this request was repeated, the Chairman of the PSC stated that no oral evidence would be led to establish the allegations and, consequently no opportunity would be given to cross examine such witnesses making the allegations. Instead it became evident today that the Chief Justice was expected to refute allegations that had not even been supported by evidence. Such an irregular and unlawful procedure would undermine every single independent judge in Sri Lanka. In almost all instances the same members of the PSC, who were in majority, overruled the submissions made on behalf of the Chief Justice without cogent reasons and often without any prior consultation with the other members.

It is for the above reasons that the Counsel for the CJ had requested to waive the secrecy provisions and sought an open and public inquiry and requested for independent observers to watch the proceedings, but this request was also refused by a majority of the PSC. In the face of the above no right thinking person could any longer continue to accept the legitimacy of a body steeped in partiality and hostility towards the head of the judiciary and in this background the chief justice and her counsel had no alternative but to withdraw from participating in the select committee.

The CJ reiterated that she is willing continue to face any impartial and lawful tribunal as is done in other commonwealth countries as was proposed in the draft constitution of August 2000 in order to vindicate herself and she will continue in her efforts to safeguard the independence of the judiciary, which is a heritage of the people of Sri Lanka, who alone are the sovereign of this country.


Source -D.Mirror

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CJ asks Speaker to appoint impartial panel

Lawyers of Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake in a letter to Speaker requested to postpone the impeachment hearing until an impartial panel is set up to probe her.

“The people of the Country (the Sovereign) have an inalienable right that their Chief Justice be given, a fair trial by an independent and impartial tribunal in keeping with the universally accepted rules and norms,” the letter signed by attorney K. Neelekandan said.

The full text of the letter sent to the Speaker by Attorneys-at-law Neelakandana and Neelakandan yesterday follows:

We are instructed by our Client, Hon. Dr. Shirani A. Bandaranayake.

As you are no doubt aware, our Client has withdrawn from the proceedings of the Select Committee and the reasons have been given.

We write to request you to defer any further action until an independent and impartial panel is appointed to inquire in to the allegations.

Our Client is absolutely innocent of the allegations and is convinced that she will be exonerated of any wrongdoing by an independent and impartial tribunal.

Our Client re-iterates that the charges are baseless and groundless and can easily be refuted. The issue is of broader and of wider relevance than our Client’s rights and affects the integrity and independence of the judiciary.

Thus in the interests of the judiciary and in the interests of the country and in the interests of our Client, we request that our Client be given the opportunity of vindicating herself before an independent and impartial tribunal.

The people of the Country (the Sovereign) have an inalienable right that their Chief Justice be given, a fair trial by an independent and impartial tribunal in keeping with the universally accepted rules and norms.

We annex herewith for your ready reference, the proposal contained in the draft Constitution of the year 2000 with regard to the procedure for removal of the Judges (Chief Justice).

Thus, we request you to defer from taking any further steps until an independent Committee is appointed to inquire into the matter.
 Source - Daily mirror

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US urges transparency and due process

 

The United States today urged the Sri Lankan Government and the Parliamentary Select Committee investigating the Chief Justice ensure any investigation be conducted transparently, guarantee due process, and is conducted in accordance with the rule of law.

Issuing a statement the embassy in Colombo said that “…it remains very concerned about the state of the Sri Lankan judiciary and the impeachment process of the Chief Justice.

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