To invest Rs 100 mn on Chatty Beach theme park
For the first time in the Northern Province, a high quality spa and a karaoke bar will be introduced by Tilko Jaffna City Hotel before April end.
Tilko Managing Director Thilak Thilagaraj said they are now on the lookout for a good operator to introduce the spa at the hotel premises.
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Tilko joint Managing Directors, Thilak and
Kohila Thilagaraj. Pictures by Saliya Rupasinghe.
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In addition they are also looking at opening a beauty culture school which is a much sought after self employment avenue in the peninsula.
Recalling his past he said that it was a free push cycle ride that he offered in the early 1973 that changed his entire life.“My parents were government servants based in Jaffna and the family of five was educated under strict Hindu culture.”
He said that the family fell in debt when they had to raise capital to give his two sisters in marriage. “We were then under tremendous stress and it was this mental agony that made me wile away most of my time in play grounds just gazing at the sky.”
“It was one of the football matches that a boy, Manoharan from Hindu College who was injured in the match wanted a lift in my bicycle to his house which was in the opposite direction of my home.” Though I knew that I could not meet the deadline of being home before 6.30 p.m. and having to face punishment I volunteered to drop him. “After I dropped him he gave me the second application to a London technical college and said they were offering scholarships and wanted me to apply.”
“I came home with this news and the application and my parents encouraged me to apply and we typed the application and mailed it without expecting much.” In two weeks Thilagaraj said he received an aerogram from London stating that his application was accepted and to join the college in two months. “We then got a passport and went to the British High Commission with the aerogram.”
However Thilagarajs' hopes were shattered when the female British visa officer said that more documentation like sponsorship letters and sources of income were needed.
When he was called for the second interview he was once again in line to meet the same female officer but somehow managed to skip this and go to another officer. “I told him that I wanted to go to London, to learn engineering and then come back as soon as possible to help my people with knowledge.
The visa officer was convinced and stamped me the London visa and Thilagaraj said that had he gone to the female visa officer no one would have known of the Tilko City hotel in Jaffna. He said when he entered the London College with a borrowed suit from a friend he noticed that most of his fellow students were from Asia and he felt at home. “I did three odd jobs and in one year brought down my brother and three years later brought his family. Thilagaraj said that after passing out as a civil engineer he met Kohila who was a Singaporean. “Though we had objections from her parents we married and started real estate business in London.”
He said that he never forgot the promise he made to the British visa officer and as soon as the peace accord was signed by then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe he came to Jaffna and bought several lands for investments.
He said that then he constructed Tilko Hotel in Jaffna as a holiday bungalow with great difficulties. “Even during that time I bought a bag of cement for Rs.2,000 and other building materials too were very expensive.”
He said that there were restrictions of movement by the LTTE but he never paid any money to them for his business' survival. “Soon after ending the war, I built Tilko as a three star hotel adding 40 rooms and it was the first star class hotel in Jaffna.”
He said that he offered employment to youth in the area and also conducts many CSR projects to keep his promise. “I want to offer more entertainment for youth in the area and this is the reason I am introducing some new features like Karaoke, Spa to the peninsula.”
He said in addition I will also invest around Rs.100 million to build the province's first Theme Park at Chatty Beach with water sports and other activities to keep the Jaffna people engaged in leisure activities.'”
He said that last week's Jaffna International Trade Fair (JITF) was a success and more events of this nature should be conducted.
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