Over 2,400 BoI projects in progress

“Over 457,868 employment opportunities have being created as a result of Board of Investments (BoI) approved mega development projects up to last September. In addition, the indirect employment opportunities that have being formed are over 2.5 million, BoI official said.

Over 62 per cent of BoI employees were women (283,991) while 173,877 are men. Apparel sector has being the strongest employment-generator providing 65 per cent of the total employment.

The sector which is Sri Lanka’s highest foreign exchange earner had generated 299,300 jobs. There is also a strong BoI presence in the service sector where 68,168 (15%) are employed. Production sector follows with 30,724 (7%) opportunities being offered.

A total of 26,776 are employed in the chemical, petroleum, power generation, rubber and plastic industry sectors. This is 6 per cent of the total employment generation. BoI projects are mainly in three categories, production, services and agriculture with 1,010 being created in the production sector.

There are 641 projects in the service and 51 in the agricultural sector. The total in these three sectors are 1,702. Currently there are 2,492 BoI projects in operation with 1,114 in Colombo district.

There are 596 projects in the Gampaha district, 136 in Kalutara. In addition there are 117 ongoing BoI projects in Galle district and 98 and 86 respectively in Kurunegala and Kandy districts.

In addition to these projects, 402 companies have being registered in the apparel, 98 in the food processing, 62 in production and 228 in various other sectors.