A Sri Lankan company is planning to build the largest mall in the post-war country, in an effort to cash in on a booming tourist industry, it said in a statement on Friday.

The Abans Group in collaboration with Silver Needle Hospitality has signed an agreement with AEDAS, an internationally reputed award winning architectural firm, to lead the design for their proposed 100 million U.S. dollar five-star super mall opposite the Beira Lake in the capital of Colombo.

The construction will commence early next year and is expected to be completed by 2016, the statement said.

The Abans Lifestyle Mall will be unique as it will be the first and only lifestyle mall in Sri Lanka on par with the huge super malls in Singapore and Dubai.

It will offer Sri Lankans as well as tourists a place where they can come and spend the whole day with their families and enjoy the many faceted attractions all under one roof.

"As this is our first joint venture development in Asia, it was crucial that we selected a high-calibre architect who understood our desire for creating, inviting and engaging an iconic landmark that meets the professional and leisure accommodation needs of the business traveler and enhances the Colombo lifestyle," Managing Director and Group CEO of Silver Needle Hospitality was quoted as saying in the statement.

Silver Needle Hospitality currently operates over 4,000 keys in the Asia Pacific region. Headquartered in Singapore, Silver Needle Hospitality has regional offices in Bangkok, Sydney and Bangalore.

Sri Lanka's capital already has several well-known shopping malls but the latest venture promises to be the largest.

Since the end of a three decade war in 2009, Sri Lanka's tourism industry has boomed, attracting over one million tourists in 2012 and earning more than a billion dollars for the first time in history.

The Sri Lankan government hopes to reach a target of 2.5 million arrivals by 2016.

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