Govt. to invest Rs. 3.5 bln on Milleniya EPZ
The Government is to spend Rs. 3.5 billion on infrastructure development at the Milleniya Export Processing Zone (EPZ) near Kalutara, according to State Minister of International Trade, Sujeewa Senasinghe.
He was speaking at a media briefing held at the Board of Investment (BOI) at the Word Trade Centre in Colombo on Monday, where Thailand’s Rojana Industrial Park Public Co Ltd signed a letter of intent with the BOI to develop this zone.
In the first instance, the Government is hoping to attract US$ 500 million in investment to the EPZ.
Mr. Serasinghe said, “While the country is going through a political change lately, the government will be spending money on infrastructure such as building roads and supplying electricity and water to the EPZ, near Kalutara.” The zone is expected to be completed by end of December next year, he added.
He also stated that the focus of EPZs is to create an export oriented country. “Sri Lanka has not manufactured anything new in the last 20 years. After 1994 no new product was manufactured in Sri Lanka and made a change to the economy of the country. We need to create an environment to boost exports.”
The EPZ will be constructed on some 400 acre state-owned land, 3 km away from the Southern Expressway exit at Kalutara. The whole project will be extended to 1000 acres in the later stages. The first phase will be on 250 acres and second phase on another 150 acres of land, Mr. Senasinghe added.
He also mentioned that the Thai investor will hand over the EPZ to Sri Lanka after 50 years. Countries like Japan, Korea, England and China will bring down some of their products to be manufactured at the EPZ. There are also plans to manufacture vehicle spare parts in the zone, he noted.
“We need to make Sri Lanka the industrial hub of Asia. The project typically takes four to five years for the completion of the zone. We are expecting to complete it by the end of next year,” stressed Mr. Senasinghe.
Rojana Industrial Park Public Company Director, Chai Vinichbutr at the media briefing said the Sri Lankan market is very suitable for FDIs. Lots of other countries will come and invest in the EPZ at the later stages.
“The labour cost is cheaper in Sri Lanka compared to Thailand while the taxes are very higher in Thailand than in Sri Lanka,” noted Mr. Vinichbutr.