Underground palace at President’s House

President Maithripala Sirisena on October 22 revealed to the country that the President’s House at Colombo Fort has an underground super-luxury palace connected to it.

At the awarding of medals to 71 school environment leaders, the president invited them for a tour of the President’s House, telling them not to forget to visit the underground palace too. Rs. 3 million electricity bill He said he was not using the President’s House, as its electricity bill alone is Rs.15 million a month, with the underground palace contributing Rs.3 million. The president said he therefore chose a house which costs Rs.500,000 a month to maintain. Construction of the underground palace started during the war on instructions by his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa, and work was completed several years after the end of the war. The armed forces were told it was a bunker built for the protection of the Rajapaksa family following the LTTE’s air raids, but security experts note it was nonsensical to build a bunker near the most insecure place in Colombo, where the port and a Navy camp are located. Therefore, it is not a bunker but one built for some other purpose, they say. Also, Rajapaksa and his family lived at Temple Trees, which had been a target of the LTTE, and where the bunker should have been built. According to reports, the four story palace, with two underground storeys, and each story around 3,000 sq. feet in extent, had an electrical elevator and a 24-hour automatic air-conditioning system. Building of a tunnel to link it towards the port had been abandoned halfway. Cost is Rs.3 billion The construction work had been done by a special unit comprising Navy and Army personnel, but the Defence Ministry does not have any document about expenses etc. It is a question as to how such a big construction had been carried out secretly. The palace’s wall is made of more than four feet thick concrete strengthened with iron rods, while concrete slabs too, are more than four feet thick. The cost of construction should be more than Rs.3 billion. The furniture, carpets, sanitary-ware etc. for the palace have been imported from Italy. Mahinda Rajapaksa had gone there only twice  before and after construction. Namal baby’s rugger home It was used by his eldest son Namal Rajapkasa, whose rugby friends and closest buddies frequented it, with President’s House staff calling it Namal baby’s rugger home. Previously, two super palaces built for the Rajapaksas were reported from Kankesanthurai and Arugambay. It is not surprising if similar secret palaces are revealed in the future too. But, the public should know that all of these have been built by using the tax money they pay. Given below are pictures of an average-looking building near the entrance to this palace and inside pictures of the palace.