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by Chandani Jayatilleke

Lalith Kotelawela, Chairman, Ceylinco Consolidated has been appointed as the Chairman of the Board of Investment (BOI), North Western Province (NWP). The BOI will be devolved into five zones North/East, Central, South, North Western and Western under the new BOI law. The North Western office will be opened on March 19 in Kurunegala.

Developing a strong local investment base strengthened by local talent and skills will be the top priority in the development process of the North Western Province, the newly appointed BOI Chairman for the NWP, Lalith Kotelawela told the Daily News.

He said that the BOI vision, which is basically towards promoting foreign investment should not be the target for the NWP. The vision could be changed to meet the aspirations of Sri Lankan entrepreneurs. "I am a firm believer of creating a strong local industrial sector. Therefore, my foremost aim is to work hard on achieving this goal. The ventures what we are looking at could be wholly owned by Sri Lankans or joint ventures with local/foreign partners," he said.

In this context, all BOI companies should not necessarily be export-oriented. They can serve the local market with quality products. "We can always produce substitutes to cheap imports and win the local market. Several developing countries have followed this concept and produced quality and reasonably priced products to be successful in business," he said.

With the opening of the office in Kurunegala next week, Kotelawela plans to meet entrepreneurs and other stakeholders in the area to discuss priority areas and business ventures in order to determine a growth strategy for industries.

"I am very excited about this opportunity and want to contribute the best to develop the province by way of encouraging investors to set up industries which can offer many job opportunities. I have worked with the poor and the poorest through various companies and projects under Ceylinco Consolidated and seen the woes of the poor.

Therefore, we must put much emphasis to address the poverty issues through these projects," he said.

Kotelawela said that providing finance for start-ups is also a major concern. "I don't want to keep the entrepreneurs in the wilderness. Therefore, we will draw up special plans to resolve such issues."

He said that he is confident in achieving results by adding innovation, dynamism and efficiency to the BOI set up in the NWP. BOI laws are very flexible and the staff is also efficient.

Referring to the opposition by some staff members on the decision to decentralise the BOI, Kotelawela said he would meet the staff and discuss the matter with them and work accordingly. "I've been appointed to this position considering my strengths in handling employees at Ceylinco totalling 22,000 staff members in 110 companies. Therefore, I feel that we can sort out such issues through discussion," he said.

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