Sri Lankan government unveils long-term land lease for export-led businesses
Daily FT: The Government has announced a comprehensive plantation reform initiative to utilise State-owned lands by providing them a long-term lease for investors and export-led businesses.
Spearheaded by the Non-Cabinet Minister of State Plantation Enterprise Reform, this initiative seeks to harness the untapped potential of these lands, boosting productivity and economic growth.
“The proposed program aims to lease out these lands to local entrepreneurs with the capacity to cultivate export-oriented crops, establish livestock farms for export purposes and engage in the production of other exportable goods and services,” Co-Cabinet Spokesman and Minister Bandula Gunawardena said at the post-Cabinet media briefing yesterday.
He claimed that a large extent of land managed by the Janatha Estate Development Board (JEDB) and the Sri Lanka State Plantation Corporation (SLSPC) has remained uncultivated or underutilised for extended periods due to legal complexities, institutional conflicts and inadequate capital.
“By engaging with capable investors, the Government seeks to transform these idling lands into vibrant hubs of economic activity, generating employment opportunities and strengthening socio-economic development,” he pointed out.
OSL take:
Sri Lanka’s exports industry is a key revenue generator for the country that earned foreign exchange for the country even amidst the economic crisis in the past few years. The industry had greatly benefitted from the many trade agreements as well as trade concessions enjoyed by Sri Lanka with other countries and these benefits are to further expand with Sri Lanka now engaged in entering into new trade agreements with more countries. All these and the many incentives offered by the government of Sri Lanka to foreign businesses/investors interested in doing business with Sri Lanka have resulted in the expansion of business/investment opportunities in the country’s exports industry. It is in such a backdrop that the Sri Lankan government has introduced the long-term land lease programme as a further attraction of foreign businesses/investors to the country. The growth and profits recorded by local businesses engaged in the exports industry is also an indication of the growing business potential in the industry. Foreign businesses/investors could therefore explore the growing opportunities in Sri Lanka’s exports industry.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/20240226/Z_2 |