COLOMBO, Jun 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Sri Lankan Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa, said, his government aims to attract 15 billion U.S. dollars to the Colombo Port City project, in the next five years.
Speaking on the second day of the Sri Lanka Investment Forum (SLIF), the prime minister said, “We have already established the legal and business facilitation framework, through a new act… Investors will be able to obtain all the services from one counter.”
The SLIF is a three-day virtual event, organised by Sri Lanka’s Board of Investment, the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, and the Colombo Stock Exchange, to attract high-quality investors from around the world. The event showcases investment opportunities in the country, and provides investors with an opportunity to network with local policymakers and businessmen.
The Port City Colombo is a joint venture between Sri Lanka and China, to develop a service-oriented Special Economic Zone (SEZ), in 269 hectares of land reclaimed from the ocean and annexed to the city of Colombo.
The prime minister said that businesses in the country endured hardship amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which resulted in a 3.6-percent contraction of gross domestic product (GDP), adding that, there was a need to turn the country into an active worksite again, and to attract investments to develop infrastructure and increase the production capacity of the country.
The prime minister said, his government had initiated ambitious infrastructure projects, to ensure access to water for all, and to build 100,000 km of roads. Tax breaks and financial and non-financial incentives proposed in the last Budget are being implemented, to create a conducive environment for investment.
“Our expectation is to encourage world-renowned investors to come to invest in our country,” Rajapaksa said.– NNN-AGENCIES
