In a fresh setback to Sri Lanka’s investor confidence, China-based Amber Adventures (Private) Limited, the country’s first cable car venture, has officially withdrawn from the Ambuluwawa Cable Car Project, citing “regulatory obstruction and arbitrary state action.”
The company informed the Board of Investment (BOI) yesterday (13) that it decided to pull out due to what it described as arbitrary and unlawful actions by state authorities, including the suspension of construction by the Central Environmental Authority (CEA) based on social media complaints, despite the project having received clearance from technical agencies.
Amber Adventures said it had already invested US$3.5 million of the total US$12.75 million secured by a consortium of investors from Sri Lanka, China, and the United States during Sri Lanka’s 2022 economic crisis.
The company stressed that the project had obtained all necessary approvals from the CEA, Urban Development Authority, Cabinet of Ministers, and Ministry of Defence, and was structured as a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) project. Under the agreement, the fully operational cable car system, valued at over Rs. 5 billion, was to be handed over to the Sri Lankan government free of charge after 13 years.
However, Amber Adventures said repeated interference, regulatory obstruction, and harassment by state officials had made the project commercially unviable. The company also rejected claims of landslide risks, noting that the National Building Research Organisation (NBRO) had inspected the site after Cyclone Ditwah and confirmed its stability.
The company revealed that it is considering international legal action to recover its losses and warned that Sri Lanka’s failure to ensure investment protection and regulatory certainty sends a damaging signal to foreign investors. “The absence of any effective oversight or protection by the BOI is a serious regulatory failure,” the company stated, adding that it could no longer operate in a “hostile and unpredictable environment.”
Amber Adventures’ exit adds to a growing list of foreign companies that have ceased or withdrawn operations in Sri Lanka since 2022 due to economic instability, regulatory uncertainty, and inconsistent policies. Among them are Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation, which ended its 60-year presence in Sri Lanka; French sporting goods retailer Decathlon, which suspended operations indefinitely in 2022; India-based food delivery platform Zomato, which exited in 2023; and the Adani Group, which withdrew from a controversial wind power project.
