Hospitality company Hilton has revealed plans to convert the Bogambara prison in Sri Lanka into a five-star hotel, reported Daily News.

State Minister for Investment Promotion Dilum Amunugama told the publication that a local investor has been secured for this project.

Melwa Group, the company that built and opened Yala Hilton, will be responsible for building this new project.

Hilton announced the opening of the Hilton Yala Resort at Yala Wildlife Tourism Zone in August 2023.

Another Hilton is currently under construction in Negombo and is scheduled to open in 2024.

Additionally, Melwa Group signed agreements for Hilton Hotels in Kosgoda, Nuwara-Eliya, and Colombo International Airport, bringing its total number of hotels in Sri Lanka to six.

Amunugama stated that the historic value of the prison is expected to be preserved during the transformation.

Urban Development Authority has now obtained approval from the Department of Archaeology to proceed with the restructuring of the complex.

British rulers constructed the three-storey prison in Kandy. The facility was closed in 2014 after 138 years in operation.

The prison was claimed to be the second-largest prison in the country and the longest building in Asia that was built on a single foundation.

In 2019, the Board of Investment (BOI) issued a request for proposals for the transformation of the prison into a tourism project.

BOI was reported to have invited foreign or local investors to submit proposals for the development of the 4.2-acre land plot, comprising the prison into a four- or five-star hotel.

Early in December, 2023, Hilton signed a management agreement for a new Signia by Hilton property in Indiana, US.

The property will be part of Indianapolis’s $710m convention centre expansion.

The company has 22 brands with 7,400 properties across 124 countries and territories.