Govt. to ink JV with Rojana Industrial Park next month

International Trade State Minister Sujeewa Senasinghe yesterday said the Government would sign the joint venture agreement with Thai-based Rojana Industrial Park Public Ltd. by next month.

Previously the Government was planning to ink the agreement in February as operations were slated to commence by the end of this year. “We have got Cabinet approval for land and now the essential infrastructure facilities are in progress. We hope to sign the joint venture agreement after the festivals towards early next month,” he told the Daily FT.

Following the signing of the agreement, the State Minister said Rojana Industrial Park would build, manage and promote the zone for enterprises from Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and the UK to set up investments.

According to him, the Cabinet has approved 244 acres of land under Phase I and 166 acres of land under Phase II in Neuchattlewatte as a free grant on a free cost basis to the Board of Investment (BOI) for the establishment of the Milleniya Export Processing Zone (EPZ).

The Government made a budgetary allocation amounting to Rs. 1 billion to the Development Strategies and International Trade Ministry for 2017, while another Rs. 2.5 billion has been granted for 2018 to develop the initial infrastructure related to the establishment of new EPZs.

Senasinghe said he was putting in a lot of effort to fast-track the process as the EPZ would attract about 200 factories that manufacture modern electronic equipment and appliances mainly from Japan.

Rojana is a Thai-Japanese joint venture which develops industrial land complete with international standard infrastructure and utilities. 

The firm is expecting to bring in around $ 500 million during the first  phase  of  the  project,  while  aiming  to be ready by the end of the  year with a fast-track  development  program  under the guidelines of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. (CdeS)