Cabinet has approved the preparation of a Master Plan to develop the Kalpitiya peninsula in the Puttalam district as a special tourist project on the instructions of Milinda Moragoda, Minister of Tourism. The Kalpitiya peninsula is a unique destination by itself with a cluster of 14 islands of varied sizes. Five of these islands are inhabited while the rest are frequented only by the seasonal fishing community.
The Kalpitiya Integrated Resort Project was initiated as far back as 2003 when action was initiated to prepare a Master Plan for Kalpitiya. However action on the project got delayed due to a scarcity of initial funding required in developing the basic infrastructure prior to other construction. To address this issue and to accelerate the project, Cabinet approval was obtained by the Minister of Tourism.
The Ministry of Tourism had already appointed a project Steering Committee and together with this a project office was set up. The project Steering Committee represents all the stakeholder agencies including North Western Province Land Commissioner, Chairman/Central Environmental Authority, Coast Conservation Department, Fisheries Department, Road Development Authority, Urban Development Authority etc. To cover various aspects of the project intensively in terms of immediate action required several sub committees were set up in the area of infrastructure development, land acquisition, investment, community awareness creation, legal & Environment.
The development envisaged will be strictly environmental friendly and ecologically sound and catering to the up market tourists.