Chinese elevators’ unit takes risk in Sri Lanka venture amidst question mark over Chinese projects
With a question mark over major Chinese projects in Sri Lanka after the new government came into power, a Chinese elevators company says it has taken a risk in entering the country’s marketplace. China based IFE Elevators Co. Ltd launched its first arm ‘IFE Elevators Lanka (Pvt) Ltd’ in Sri Lanka last week.
Speaking to the Business Times on the sidelines of the launch at the Cinnamon Lakeside in Colombo, company director Linda Yang, said, “We are taking a risk in investing in Sri Lanka at this time of a political situation in the country after the change of government. We have our fingers crossed that everything will go smooth”. The previous government allowed a lot of Chinese companies to enter the country but with the new government some Chinese firms are still not sure whether to come or not, she noted.
Ms. Yang speaking at the event mentioned four points why IFE Lanka was established in Sri Lanka; new silk routes binding other regions closer to Sri Lanka, rapid economic development of Sri Lanka, rapid growth in IFE elevators export to Sri Lanka and IFE Agent Management System. The IFE Lanka Management system is a worldwide management system with good maintenance service and quality control, she added.
She also noted that Sri Lanka showed a rapid growth of 7.8 per cent of GDP in Asia last year. IFE Elevators started to export to Sri Lanka from September 2012 and it is the first company to introduce remote monitoring system worldwide, she added.
IFE Elevators Co. Ltd Director Jason Bai said that there are more than 1300 employees all around the world. Some of the projects in Sri Lanka that uses IFE elevators are the Kotelawala Defence University which has 19 units of IFE Elevators, OZO Colombo, Jetwing Hotels and many more.
At the event it was mentioned that IFE Elevators Co. Ltd is the largest distributor of elevators in Singapore.