MoU with Mahindra & Mahindra for new BOI IT Park
Huge achievement for country - Navin:
The BOI has entered into an agreement with the Indian Infrastructure
development giant Mahindra and Mahindra for a new IT Park at Katunayake.
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Dr. Sarath Amunugama, Minister of Enterprise Development and
Investment Promotion shakes hands with Arun Nanda, Vice Chairman
of Mahindra and Mahindra after the MoU was signed to set up an
IT Park at Katunayake. Shri Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State for
Commerce of India and Navin Dissanayake, Minister of Investment
Promotion are also in the picture. |
The Agreement was signed by Dr. Sarath Amunugama, Minister of
Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion, whose Ministry oversees
the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka, and Arun Nanda, Vice Chairman of
Mahindra and Mahindra.
The IT Park at Katunayake will be on a 53 acre land that was
identified as the site for a future IT park by the BOI.
The land will yield 2.6- 3 million sq. feet of space that can be used
for the different types of IT related activities.
The site would be built and managed by Mahindra and Mahindra and the
company would market the site, making space available to investors in
the IT, BPO and IT enabled services sectors. The rationale behind this
new agreement is to use the expertise of Mahindra and Mahindra to build
the site in association with the Board of Investment.
Arun Nanda, Vice Chairman of Mahindra and Mahindra said that the main
strength of his company was its ability to bring to the new IT zone top
level IT companies from India and other countries.
He said, " The project will create 25,000 new software jobs in Sri
Lanka, which is a ten-fold increase of Sri Lanka's current pool of IT
workers".
In addition, there are another 5,000 other employment opportunities
from support services.
Nanda said that the IT Zone in Katunayake will eventually create
60,000-70,000 indirect job opportunities, as the site will become a
magnet for a wide range of activities. Dr. Amunugama said, "We are very
happy to have entered into this agreement.
We have had a long relationship with M & M. The IT industry is a US$
1 billion industry for Sri Lanka. M& M will undertake the total
integrated development of the IT Park. It will be open for companies to
invest". "I am very confident that some of the big players in the IT
industry will invest here", he said.
Jairam Ramesh, India's State Minister of Commerce, and Senior
officials of the Indian High Commission and the Board of Investment of
Sri Lanka were also present.
Investment Promotion Minister Navin Dissanayake told the Sunday
Observer that this is a huge achievement for the country as it will
create a lot of job opportunities for our talented youth and help
develop our country as an IT hub. |
