BOI to ink JV with S’pore’s Surbana Jurong next week

Wednesday, 26 April 2017 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Board of Investment (BOI) will ink a joint venture agreement next week with Surbana Jurong, an infrastructure and urban development subsidiary of Singapore’s State-owned investment vehicle Temasek Holdings, to develop a few select cities in Sri Lanka.

“The BOI will be signing a joint venture agreement with Singapore’s Surbana Jurong to plan and change the outlook of Colombo, Trincomalee and Kandy cities. The joint venture agreement will be signed on 9 May, which will be backed by the Government of Sri Lanka,” BOI Chairman Upul Jayasuriya said at the groundbreaking ceremony held in Colombo yesterday.

He said amongst those projects, the first one will be Colombo around the Beira Lake, which extends to more than 200 acres of land owned by the Sri Lankan Government.

“Surbana Jurong will undertake the plans and development, where they will be drawn by the local architects and professionals. The expertise of Surbana Jurong will be shared among local professionals,” he added.

He said the completion of Beira Lake development will be the “jewel in the crown” as it is an important part of the city of Colombo.

While acknowledging that attracting much-needed foreign direct investments to the country was important, Jayasuriya also said that projects of this nature were necessary to change the outlook of cities which will garner more attention from global travellers.