Work halted on what would have been the world's tallest Christmas tree in Sri Lanka on Dec.6. (ucanews.com photo)
Sri Lanka has halted its bid to construct the world's tallest Christmas tree after it was criticized for being a waste of money by the Catholic archbishop of Colombo.
Construction ground to a halt on Dec. 6 following Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith's comments at a press conference the same day.
"Those who are responsible for this construction should use these funds to provide scholarships for poor children or construct houses for poor people," said Cardinal Ranjith.
"Construction work should be abandoned. Christmas is an occasion for sharing funds with the needy, not to waste money on lavishness.… The market economy is using religion as a tool for selling Christmas," he added.
The government announced that they were halting construction following discussions between Mangala Gunasekara, chairman of the organizing committee, and Ports and Shipping Minister Arjuna Ranatunga who is also a Sri Lankan cricketing legend.
"We bow our heads before the cardinal's advice and as a result the Christmas tree work has been asked to halt according to instructions given by Minister Ranatunga following discussions with committee members," Ports and Shipping Minister's Media Secretary Thameera Manju told the media.
The organizing committee of the Christmas tree project announce that their project will come to end at a media briefing at the the ports and shipping office on Dec.7. (ucanews.com photo)
At a press conference, Gunasekara said that they had informed the Catholic Church before beginning the project and the church had given its blessing.
"There is a misconception among the public about where the funds came from, the resources to build the tree were given to us by various organizations and it was solely a voluntary job," he said.
"The tree was to bring a message of peace to the world. It was to showcase and strengthen religious harmony among various ethnic and religious groups," said Gunasekara.
"The cardinal has advised to give the money to the poor. So as Buddhists we highly revere his advice and have agreed to halt it," he added.
Work on the 315 feet (96 meters) Christmas tree halted at 60 feet (18 meters). It was expected to cost 12 million rupees (US $80,000) of which about half has already been spent.