Nov 28, Colombo: Sri Lanka Chief Government Whip Dinesh Gunawardena said in the parliament yesterday that the state had leased 100 acres of land in a suburb of Colombo city to Prima company for 55 years at Rs. 100 (one dollar) per perch in 2001 when former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga was in power.

Gunawardena also said that the estimated value of the land then was around Rs. 50 million.

He explained that the former President's action was an extension of a lease that existed since 1977.

He expressed these views in response to a question posed by Sri Lanka Marxist People's Liberation Front (JVP) MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake.