BOI seeks investors for underutilised land in 7 EPZs

By Charumini de Silva

The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI) has called for expressions of interest (EOIs) from potential investors to setup export manufacturing projects in already-developed Export Processing Zones (EPZ) in Koggala, Seethawake, Horana, Mawathagama, Polgahawela, Kandy and Mirigama.

The BOI has assured various incentives and facilitation for enhancing the private sector developed EPZs for potential investors to establish export manufacturing ventures. Only investment project proposals which are export oriented (a minimum of 80% of the total output) and meet the criteria qualifying for BOI status under Section 17 of the BOI law are eligible for allocation of land.

The selected respective investor shall furnish a refundable deposit or bank guarantee of 10% of the proposed investment value of the project at the time of signing the agreement with the BOI, which will be reimbursed after the implementation period, if the agreed value of the investment is realised.

It was pointed out that the selection process would be extremely straightforward, where the evaluation would be carried out according to a marking scheme. 

“This time around the proposals will be assessed through an evaluation committee according to a marking scheme provided and those applications will then be forwarded to the Board for approval. Previously, when a proposal is submitted we inform the investor on the shortcomings in the application form and call them to resubmit documents. But this time, if the proposal does not fulfil the BOI criteria mentioned, it will be rejected according to the marks it has scored. It is like an exam — you write it and you get results accordingly,” BOI sources said.

The deadline for submission of proposals for prospective investors is 28 February to the Technical Services Department of the BOI at Level 05, West Tower, World Trade Centre, Colombo 01.   

The Koggala EPZ has five land slots totalling 8.3 acres for industrial activities ranging from precession engineering, basic metal and chemical industries confined to dry operations, food, machinery and equipment, manufacture of solar panel systems and assembly, mineral products, vehicle parts, plastics, paper and paper board articles, timber and wood based products, pharmaceutical/rubber based products/food processing and electronic items.

There are four separate lands in Seethawaka totalling 4.11 acres, while there is 1.8 acre land in Horana. In Mawathagama there are three separate lands amounting to 5.84 acres and Polgahawela has four land slots totalling 7.6 acres. 

The recommended industries for EPZs in Seethawake, Horana, Mawathagama and Polgahawela includes precision engineering, basic metal and chemical industries confined to dry operations, food, machinery and equipment, plastics, mineral products, paper and paper board articles, timber and wood-based products and electronic items.

The Kandy Industrial Park has two separate lands totalling 3.3 acres, while Mirigama EPZ has three land slots amounting to four acres to set up precision engineering/light engineering, garment manufacturing, machinery and equipment, plastics, paper and paper board articles and electronic items.

The prospective investors will have pipe-borne water supply, 33kV HT power to each industrial lot, and an access road, while a sewer collection network (except in Kandy and Mirigama) is available up to the boundary of each industrial lot. In addition, investor services comprising verification of export/import, building plan approvals and so on are available through the BOI zone office.