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By Charumini de Silva
The Government on Friday enlightened around 100 potential local and foreign investors on the endless opportunities afforded by the Western Megapolis project, insisting that it would be the future of the State.
Speaking at Colombo 2030: Developers Forum 2017, one of the main events of the Urban Development Authority (UDA) to attract local and global investors and developers, Megapolis and Western Development Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka said the Government was keen on encouraging genuine and serious investors to invest in the country’s major infrastructure projects that are necessarily associated with the modern smart city concept.
“I would like to emphasise that the Western Megapolis will be the future of the State. Local and global private sectors will be considered our key partners. The Government will only invest in the absolutely essential areas and the private sector has to make the vital investments,” he added.
The Developers Forum is one of the main events of the UDA to attract investors and developers both locally and globally.
Pointing out that the future was independent of the State and would be based on cities, Ranawaka stressed that they had planned out infrastructure to suit modern day requirements with this futuristic aspect in mind to promote private public partnerships (PPPs).
“Sri Lanka is blessed with a well-educated population. We also have a solid legal framework, our environment is very clean, our standards are high and we are situated in a very strategic location in the Indian Ocean. We are the hub of the Indian Ocean. In order to keep your footprint in the hub we invite you all,” he stated.
According to the Minister, the future economic, technological, political and developmental phases will be greatly propagated by cities and not states. As cities will be the centre of all the activities of population centres, it is estimated that by 2030, 60 % of the world’s population will be living in cities.
He said the new city development concept underscores that, whatever the resource the country has, use it technically and optimally as the scarcity of resources has led to the questioning of the linear growth of the development paradigm.
“The pure market base development paradigm is now being challenged. The issue at hand is that the consumption of the existing generation greatly impacts the consumption of the future generation,” he added.
Ranawaka said the strategic advantage of a city was its ability to offer a higher return to any investor. In the past Sri Lanka has accumulated a very high debt burden due to investments in places where there was no adequate return.
Pic by Ruwan Walpola
