COLOMBO: Sri Lanka unveiled a towering Christmas tree, claiming to have surpassed the world record despite constructions delays and a shorter-than-planned finished product.

The 238-foot artificial tree in capital Colombo is 59 feet taller than the current record holder, organisers said. The tree’s steel-and-wire frame is covered with a plastic net decorated with more than 1 million natural pine cones painted red, gold, green and silver, 600,000 LED bulbs and topped by a 20-foot-tall shining star.

The tree costs $80,000 and was criticised by the Catholic Church as a “waste of money”. The church suggested that the funds better be spent on helping the poor.

Hundreds of port workers and volunteers struggled for four months to put up the tree in time for the holidays.

The Guinness World Records is yet to confirm if this is the tallest artificial Christmas tree. Currently, the record is held by a Chinese firm that put up a 180-foot tree-like tower of lights and synthetic foliage, ornaments and lamps in the city of Guangzhou last year.

Sri Lankan organisers said they wanted the tree to help promote ethnic and religious harmony in the Buddhist-majority island nation, where a long civil war ended in 2009 but reconciliation remains a challenge.

Published in Dawn December 26th, 2016