Investments flow into Jaffna

One of the important characteristics of Sri Lanka today is the fact that there are over two million expatriate Sri Lankans living overseas. A large segment of this expatriate community consists of ethnic Tamils, many of whom hailed from Jaffna peninsula and other towns and villages in the Northern Province.

Douglas Devananda, Minister of Social Services and Welfare, Mrs. Pathgunarajha, Mayor of Jaffna and Dhammika Perera, Chairman/ Director General of BOI open the BOI branch office in Jaffna, paving the way for the economic development of the Northern Province.

Hence the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka took a strategic decision to open a branch office in Jaffna at the Housing Secretariat Building, Kandy Road Jaffna. The office is headed by, Senior Deputy Director, Jaffna A. Jeyamanon.

The office was opened by Dhammika Perera, Chairman/ Director General of the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka.

The purpose of opening an office is to promote new investment opportunities and to facilitate projects in the Jaffna peninsula. Staff of the office are all Tamil speaking who are familiar with the needs of the investors to establish projects.

As a result of the conflict, the Northern Province's economy needs to be rebuilt and opportunities created would provide employment to a large section of the population. There is already a considerable interest building up from foreign investors to start projects in the Eastern Province especially in the hotel trade, IT, and agro processing industries. To make this objective successful, the BOI has developed a dedicated regime of investment incentives for the Northern and the Eastern Provinces, which were badly affected by the conflict. What characterizes these tax incentives and other benefits is that they are valid for a much longer period of 10, 15 or 20 years depending on the sector. These apply for projects in the agriculture and agro industries sector, fisheries, training, manufacturing and other important identified areas.