Govt invites garment companies to invest in northern areas

01 Sep '09

1 min read

The Sri Lankan Board of Investment (BOI) has invited garment companies to invest in the Northern region of the country, which is now free from any type of violence and has asked the Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF) to suggest incentives, to attract investments in the Northern areas.

The Secretary General of JAAF, Mr Rohan Masakorala said that the apparel manufacturing companies are willing to invest in the Northern region, but are waiting for clear policy directives and plans of the government and as to what kind of investor facilities will be provided.

The Northern areas of Sri Lanka are expected to provide a comparative cost advantage due to the low labour costs. JAAF has suggested incentives which include tax free holidays and duty free vehicles, which will help kick start investments in the former war torn region.

Garment companies are also demanding that the government should identify and allocate suitable land to set up their factories and that the prospective investors should be allowed to buy land based on a government valuation and the initial investment to qualify for investments should be pegged at Rs 50 million.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India