Beach Wadiya wins temporary demolition reprieve

Sri Lanka’s Beach Wadiya restaurant has won a temporary court reprieve from demolition after resisting a government order to leave Colombo’s shoreline under a coastal clean-up plan.

The Coast Conservation and Coastal Resource Management Department gave the seafood restaurant 10 days to leave or face demolition. The deadline expired on September 10, but the restaurant has refused to go and has taken the matter to court.

The Court of Appeal ordered the department not to demolish Beach Wadiya for two weeks pending a hearing, according to the family that runs the restaurant.

Environment Minister Dammika Patabendi said buildings should not stand within the 10-metre coastal reservation from the shoreline. “We have identified 82 such premises and we are taking steps to remove them,” he told AFP.

Suhara Chandrasekera, the founder’s granddaughter and a director of the restaurant, said Beach Wadiya was built in 1974, before the 1981 Coast Conservation Act cited in the eviction order. She said the family has permits dating back to 1974 and has filed an appeal and a writ case.

Beach Wadiya has operated for more than half a century and has hosted Princess Anne, Nepali royals, Richard Branson, Asha Bhosle and cricket stars including Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Wasim Akram. Chandrasekera said the restaurant has lost huts and part of a bathroom to sea erosion as the beachfront has narrowed over time.