Dhammika under fire over ‘quick’ BOI approvals

By Duruthu Edirimuni

The ‘quick-fix’ approval scheme of the Board of Investment (BOI) by powerful business baron Dhammika Perera after he assumed office as its chairman has come under fire from former senior officials.

“Those days the BOI got the relevant approvals in place for the investor before the approval was granted for the project. This does not happen anymore,” a former senior official told The Sunday Times FT. He said now the BOI ‘just gave’ an approval as soon as the application is received by them.

Perera rejects the allegations saying the process is much faster and he gets the job done.

But former officials say it’s just a piece of paper, because the investor has to get the other approvals. “BOI is not a ‘one stop shop’ anymore,” one source said.

He said earlier, if an application was received for a tourism project, the BOI would get it approved by the Urban Development Authority (UDA) for land, environmental authority approvals, etc. “Now the BOI does not get involved at all. Giving an approval for a project does not mean that it will ever start,” he reiterated.

He further said there was no check by the BOI on whether money coming into the country was being laundered, who the investor is, etc.

Perera while agreeing that the BOI does not assist in getting approvals, said it signs a document with the particular investor saying the BOI favours the project. “Earlier, after the investor is assisted by the BOI to take approval for the project, it enters into an agreement with the investor. “Now we sign a project approval, (which was not there earlier) to inform the investor that the BOI likes his project. We look at the feasibility of the project and how it can meet the objectives of the BOI and grant approval, for the one page application that the investor fills up. Earlier this simple application had reams of paper,” he explained.
He said this gives an incentive to the investor by way of ‘it is possible’ rather than taking time to grant an approval. “This way the investor has the confidence about the project,” he said.

He rejected claims that the BOI doesn’t do proper checks and said that this does not arise, because by the time the investor takes the approvals, these things are looked into.

A BOI official agreed that now the approvals are not granted as before, but said that the BOI checks whether the project is viable. “Now we don’t provide the approval subject to the clearing processes.

Now the approval for a project is faster, but the investor has to go through all the relevant processes such as getting clearance from the UDA,” he said.

He said by this approach they hoped other state institutions involved also take the onus and more interest in an approval process.

“The new thinking is good in the sense that the BOI was (often) accused of taking bribes to do various things for the investor. Now this does not arise,” he said.

Perera reiterated that the BOI is an ‘institution to promote investment’ and he was not bothered about whether the investment comes from a foreign or a local project. “I am only concerned about how best the project will help the economy. I do not care whether it is to A, B, C or D,” he said.