Financial Times

SLT plans 'Telecom City' in Welikada
Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) plans to build a 'Telecom City' to cater to the out-sourcing industry, the first phase of which is estimated to cost Rs. 5 billion. "This project is expected to facilitate call centres, back office work, and disaster recovery," project co-ordinator Asanga Abeygoonasekera told The Sunday Times FT. "The Telecom City, which will be located in Welikada, is expected to be completed in three phases by 2010."

Explaining each phase, Abeygoonasekera said the first phase, commencing January 5, will have three buildings and is expected to be completed by the end of this year. It is believed that this will create around 1,000 job opportunities. Each floor will have over 180 places or 'call seats' for the call agents.

The first phase will be completed on a 7.8 acre plot of land adjoining the Welikada prison. The second phase will have four buildings and will be built in the current Welikada prison premises, which SLT hopes to acquire in the near future. This phase will include vendor outlet businesses where computer giants such as Intel and Microsoft are expected to set up shop and sell their solutions.

"The purpose of this is to provide a one-stop-shop for information technology solutions," Abeygoonasekera said. The third phase will be an expansion of these concepts.

"Other countries in the region such as India are already ahead of us in the out-sourcing industry. Therefore SLT will make the initial investment in order to kick-start the project. The whole project is estimated to cost around Rs 50 billion and we hope to get investors as we progress.

"When completed we hope to give investors excellent facilities at a reasonable and competitive price. This project is also expected to generate a total of 100,000 jobs after completion," Abeygoonasekera said.

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