Foreign investor may get 5,000 acres on lease in Sri Lanka: FM
The Govt. may lend land to a foreign investor up to a maximum of 5,000 acres and relax the criteria in respect of projects which are “labour intensive with the focus on job creation,” Finance Minister, Ravi Karunanayake has said.
“Earlier, the lease tax was very stiff,” Karunanayake has told the The Hindu newspaper.
A foreign firm can do business without paying 100 per cent tax on leasing of land, though they would not be able to buy land in the island nation. The only stipulation for the investors getting 99-year-long lease would be that they should not “indulge in buying land” and their investments should be active.
For the purpose of foreign investments, the government had identified many thrust areas, each having a potential of two billion dollars.
Asked whether foreigners would be allowed for projects proposed under the public-private partnership (PPP) mode in respect of the dairy sector and the construction of 100,000 houses in five years, Karunanayake replied in the affirmative and said the term “private” would mean a local or a foreign investor while the term “public” would refer only to citizens of the country.
-Agencies
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We have little else to sell but land and about 50 percent of the population is landless and with this there will be more landless. Probably ravi must looking at the possibility of selling out uneconomic tea, rubber coconut holdings!
What are the `thrust areas’ this an is referring to and does this run concurrent with the two million dollar residency package offered by ravi? Has Ravi made any projections on the appropriation of land for this project?
All told how much does minister expect to raise from this project. Obviously ravi dont expect to remain minister or for that matter the party that runs the government in which case is the 99 year lease binding!
Finally has this project been included in the budget proposal