SOCIAL FEASIBILITY Effect to traffic congestion

With the introduction of the new hotel project, a new fleet of vehicles would be introduced to the Galle road traffic. The effects would be severe during peak hours due to increased traffic congestion, unless managed properly. During the construction phase of the project, the mobility of the road can be reduced when ready mix concrete trucks and other heavy vehicles transporting material frequently enter and leave the site.

Customer Attraction The location of the hotel project is at the heart of Colombo facing the Galle Face beach. There are number of well reputed luxury hotels in the vicinity aimed for foreign customers. Foreigners are easily attracted to this area due to the highly developed infrastructure and transportation facilities. The competitive advantage ITC hotel project having is its location for the high rise building to get a picturesque view of the Galle Face beach better than the rivals, except Shangri La Hotel which is next to the ITC hotel site.

Cultural aspects Foreigners would be the mostly attracted customers for a luxury high rise hotel than the local people. Hence the presence of foreign people with different cultures and different attitudes would be increased due to this project, especially in the Galle Face premises. This may lead to an increase of certain social problems such as child abuse, drug abuse, prostitution, etc.

New job opportunities With the new hotel project new job opportunities would be created at various levels. Recruiting most of the hotel management crew from local area would be beneficial to both the staff and the owners. Many other indirect jobs related to transport facilities, cleaning services, supply chains would also be created. Even the local and domestic business concepts such as handy crafts, pottery and Sri Lankan food items in the vicinity, specially in Galle Face premises would be benefitted.

ENVIRONMENTAL FEASIBILITY The Beira Lake closer to the site is an environmentally sensitive area. Waste water

generated from the building during construction and operational phases can be dumped into the canal after treating properly. If the treatment process is not adequate to meet the standards, the most devastating effect can result from this hotel project as the solid waste generated in a hotel due to thrown away food and beverages would cause much chaos.

Global warming and the depletion of petroleum reserves are motivating factors to review the energy use. The hotel industry is also affected by this issue. Its energy

demand is closely linked to the comfort of its guests. Hotels consume excessive energy as they have energy intense facilities such as bars, restaurants, pools, and more spacious luxury rooms with modern convenient facilities. To reduce the impact on the environment, it is necessary to control the consumption of fossil fuels and to turn to clean technologies and renewable energy. This can be reduced by planning the layout of the building to get the optimum natural light and ventilation, by using sustainable building materials to get thermal comfort and by installing solar heaters or other renewable energy sources so that artificial lighting and air conditioning will be reduced.

Water, and especially fresh water, is one of the most critical natural resources. The hotel industry generally overuses water resources for swimming pools, kitchen, wash rooms, landscaping, laundry, cleaning and etc, This region happens to be a favourite destination for tourists. Water consumption by tourists is far above the water consumption by local residents. Indeed, a guest at an international hotel consumes an average of 300 litres a day. This situation endangers the quality and the availability of water for local communities. For this reason, actions that aim to reduce the consumption of water in the hotel are necessary.

Disposal of solid waste during construction and operational phases would be under the societal and regulatory pressures. This should be done without causing environmental degradation and it is therefore necessary to implement strategies to minimize wastes at source as well as to recycle them. Necessary treatment plants, recycling plants need to be considered as options.

The water table in the area is quite high which would be an obstruction for excavation and construction work. Hence necessary dewatering processes should be adopted and adequate precautions should be taken to reduce seepage of water to the construction area.

During the construction phase, there would be air pollution due to excessive dust generated and sound pollution due to mechanical construction equipments would take place. Necessary precautions should be planned to minimize the adverse effects.

TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY Acquiring or purchasing of building material would be more convenient in the local

conditions. Most of the materials used for the construction can be sourced locally which proceeds to justify that the proposed concept is technically feasible.

As Sri Lanka is now enriched with more competitive construction companies who adopt high technical equipments for construction, obtaining the required technical equipments has no issue at all. Further, these large scale companies have successfully carried out high rise building projects in the vicinity. Hence, obtaining the knowledge

required for the design and construction of this project can also be sourced locally from experienced technical professionals with minimal involvement of foreign professionals.

Obtaining labour for construction of this project would also be easier in the local conditions as there are numbers of highly competitive subcontractors who would undertake the different phases of construction.

Shangri La is a similar hotel project in the same location, in which construction is currently undergoing. From the experiences and consequences of construction of that project, better processes and methods can be proposed for the construction of this ITC hotel project.