The Board of Investment (BOI), the apex body driving investments, has revised its target to achieve Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) in the range of US$ 1.5-2.0 billion due to the global pandemic, Secretary to the Ministry of Industrial Export and Investment Promotion, M.P.D.U. Mapa Pathirana said on Friday.
“The BOI has launched measures to get the projects in the pipeline and those under construction, off the ground at the earliest,” he said, adding that Sri Lanka has the potential to go well beyond the revised target if everyone puts their heart and soul to achieve the goals.
The BOI has called for investment proposals for lands at its investment zones.
According to Pathirana, up to June 25, the country has secured investments to the value of US$ 588.76 million comprising US$ 547.99 million from foreign and US$ 50.77 million from local companies.
The estimated employment generation from the projects is 4,594.
“We have also taken steps to help expand production lines of on-going projects and approval has been granted to 58,” the Ministry Secretary said. The estimated investment from these projects is US$ 856.19 million (foreign US$ 18.18 million and local US$838.10 million) and employment generation is 29,791.
On the expansion of the BOI zones, he said work on expanding the Wagawatte and Millaniya zones in the Kalutara district and the Bingiriya zone had commenced last year and commercial operations at Wagawatte have commenced.
With regard to the Katunayake BOI zone, he said that it cannot be expanded due to space constraints. “However, we are trying to maximise the use of the zone,” he said, adding that the focus has been on value addition and expansion of export markets.
Operations at all BOI ventures have resumed fully following the lifting of travel restrictions under health authority guidelines.
-LF