The government has decided to grant up to a five-year visa for investors and shareholders doing business in Sri Lanka (Investor Visas), Aviation and Development of Export Zones State Minister D. V. Chanaka said. He was addressing the 41st Annual General Meeting of the Free Trade Zone Manufacturers’ Association (FTZMA) at Colombo Hilton.
Chanaka said that for several years investors were requesting this facility as they had to renew their Investor visas every year going to multiple institutions. He said that in addition the government has also made available VIP Silk Route facilitation for VIP investors at BIA and visiting business partners and colleagues.
“In addition, the BOI will be introducing an Investor Facilitation Center to serve you as a central point for coordination with both its internal and external stakeholders. This means the investor will deal with all BOI departments through one portal, including the relevant Line Agencies too, if necessary.”
“In a bid to encourage more BOI companies to expand, we are also working on a scheme to provide zonal land at discounted rates to existing investors who are expanding operations. This is the first step of many similar initiatives that have been identified to encourage reinvestment and strengthen local manufacturers.” Speaking further at the AGM which participants say was the longest in their 41-year history due to a packed speakers list, (at one-point Secretary FTZMA Dhammika Fernando had to call and curtail a guest speaker’s speech that went on for over 50 minutes) Minister assured that uninterrupted energy and other essentials would be provided to the Zones. “This is because we consider the export processing zones with 500,000 employees working in its member enterprises and bringing much-needed USD to Sri Lanka to be a pillar of the national economy.” He said that the economy is somewhat showing signs of recovery at a steady pace with exports revenue climbing and C-19 cases/deaths showing a major decline. By the end of last year, total export earnings recorded from BOI - enterprises surpassed the export revenue achieved in 2019. Of the 23 export sectors listed under the Board of Investment, 15 of them have grown when compared to 2019. Most notable are industries such as Rubber, Textiles and Fabrics, Electronics, Food Processing, Industrial Chemicals, Petroleum, Coal, Plastic and Transport Equipment which have all recorded double-digit growth against the same period. “All of these great achievements were possible, because of the collective efforts of people such as you,” the minister said.
Chairman BOI, Raja Edirisuriya said that he too faced the actual brunt of ‘red tape’ when he wanted to refurbish his ancestral home in Galle and he was driven to several institutions to obtain approvals. “Steps are taken to avoid a repeat of this to investors,” he said.
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