The Board of Investment (BOI) has signed an agreement with the Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology to undertake research and development in nanotechnology for value addition and provide for export oriented manufacturing. On behalf of the Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology, Ashroff Omar (Chief Executive Officer Brandix Lanka) and Mr. A. N. R. Amaratunga (Secretary, Ministry of Science and Technology) signed the agreement.

This project is an investment of US $ 4.2 million and is sponsored by National Science Foundation, MAS Holdings, Dialog Telekom, Hayleys PLC, Brandix Lanka and Loadstar. The venture will be located at the Biyagama Export Processing Zone. In a press release, the BOI said six new agreements have been signed at a total investment of US$ 15.5 million. They include the agreement with New Medicare Hospitals to establish a hospital with state of the art medical equipment.

It will include two Operating Theatres with the latest technology for Cardiology and an Intensive Care/High Dependency Unit. The hospital will be located in Colombo 10. Resource Granite Lanka is a venture for mining Granite rough blocks for the export market.

The project will export mined Granite in Rough Form – Stage 2 to China and Singapore. The investment is US $ 1.5 million and the venture will be located in Dodampapitiya, Mathugama. MAS Active Trading (Pvt) Ltd signed an agreement to set up an Export Trading House. The venture will work with all the manufactures of the MAS Active to increase the competitiveness of the company. It will be located in Colombo and create employment oppotunities for a workforce of 660.

Watts Lanka (Pvt) Ltd is setting up a project to manufacture solid tyres for the export market for export to the US, Europe and Middle East D K W – Aqua International is setting up a venture to manufacture flexible packaging for export. It will manufacture flexible packing products such as Bags on Roll, Fashion Bags and Lamination Film. Raw materials used for the production will be imported from the Middle East while the products are expected to be exported to US, Europe and Japan.