Call to bring industries under one organisation

by Ranil Wijayapala

The difficulty in accessing major industries under the Board of Investment (BOI) for regular inspection has posed a threat to the sustainability of chemical based industries and all industries should be brought under one umbrella organisation to ensure better inspection, Director of the National Convention for the Implementation of the Chemical Weapon Convention Dr. Rohan Perera told the Sunday Observer. He said regular inspections are important to avoid environmental damage and ensure the sustainability of the industries in the country.

Dr. Perera said although the National Authority for the Implementation of the Chemical Weapon Convention has been given power to inspect the industries to ensure the proper use of chemicals and releasing hazardous chemicals to the environment they find it extremely difficult to inspect industries under the BOI due to prevailing regulations to provide access to those industries.

The 18 multinational companies which import large amounts of chemicals to Sri Lanka under the BOI are not inspected regularly as the BOI system takes days to provide access to them.

"We inspect the industries in industrial zones regularly under the Industrial Development Board but large industries under the BOI do not come such inspection", he said.

Therefore, it is important to have one organisation for the easy access for regular inspections and also to ensure that no environmental damage due to those industries.