The Board of Investment (BOI) of Sri Lanka has this week signed a US$4 billion deal with Sri Lanka Gateway Industries (Private) Ltd. to construct a port related industrial zone for heavy industries in the country’s north eastern Trincomalee District.

Sri Lanka Gateway Industries, a foreign invested project company, will build a deep water jetty, a bulk commodities terminal with stockpiling and blending capabilities, and a power generation plant, the country’s state investment promotion agency said in a statement.

The statement further said that this project will open opportunities for many export / import markets in the Asian, African, Australian and American continents, and provide a strategic access gateway to satisfy the growing demands of the Indian market. In addition to the above, the Trincomalee region will be benefited through direct and indirect employment opportunities, social and community development and creation of new skills during construction and long-term operation of the project. It is expected that over 5000 direct employment opportunities and over 20,000 indirect employment opportunities will be created from this project.

Sri Lanka Gateway Industries will establish a vocational training centre to enhance the professional skills of the local community of the region, thereby targeting many job opportunities for the local population.

The company has completed detailed feasibility and engineering studies and will be adopting World Bank environmental standards as a benchmark for the project.

The complex, to be completed in three phases, will represent the single largest foreign invested project in the island’s history.

Sri Lanka Gateway will be responsible for the development, operation and management of the project, the statement added.

In response to the news, Prabath Nanayakkara, chairman of Sri Lanka Gateway Industries, said that the venture will change the economic landscape of the island.

M MC Ferdinando, the head of Sri Lanka’s Board of Investment, added that the landmark deal showed the “growing international investor confidence in Sri Lanka.”

The venture will be boosted by tax concessions as it falls under the country’s Strategic Development Act.

(Sources: Port Technology/BOI)