Financial Times

Tristar's Botswana unit in trouble

A garment factory in Botswana owned by Sri Lanka's Tri-Star garments group has shut down leaving its 611 employees in the lurch, according to a Botswana newspaper report.

The Midweek Sun in its May 28 issue quoted employees as saying they have not been paid despite an Industrial court order to Star Apparel Botswana to pay their wages.

Kumar Devapriya, Chairman, Tri Star Group and his senior officials were unavailable for comment on the report that said the closure of the factory was confirmed by the Botswana Export Development and Investment Authority (BEDIA).

Garment exports from Botswana to the US are quota free and duty free, one of the reasons why the crisis-hit Tri-Star group launched operations there.

The Botswana operation may have failed because of problems and delays in obtaining the duty free and quota free facility, the sources said adding that Tri Star is planning to set up a garment factory in Uganda too.

Devapriya under President Ranasinghe Premadasa's 200 Garment Factories' Programme put up 30 garment factories across the country.

Ten have closed down since then due to a financial crisis.

(QP)