Tri-Star invests Rs. 500m for Apparel Village in Trincomalee

Anjana SAMARASINGHE

EXPANSION: Tri-Star Apparel Exporters will establish an apparel village investing over Rs. 500 million in the Trincomalee district.

Chairman of the Tri-Star Apparel Exporters Kumar Dewapura said the company expects to establish five garment factories in the Village providing 5000 job opportunities for youth in Thambalagamuwa in the Trincomalee district.

As the initial stage the company will set up their first factory investing over Rs. 100 million providing 1000 jobs and expect to start production within three months time for the US market.

The company runs a similar apparel village in Alawwa consisting five factories.

Devapura said the initial project will be a foreign collaboration and he also expects to commence other factories as foreign joint ventures. Another four factories will be set up in one-year’s time, he said.

Nearly 3000 job seekers in Trincomalee have registered with us and at the moment the company is training 150 applicants in Colombo now. The training is on supervising, cutting, machine operating and computer operating, he said.

Foreign investors are keen on investing in areas such as Trincomalee. Investors are more concerned about their local partners and the utilisation of the funds, he said.

Devapura said there is adequate infrastructure like electricity, water and telecommunication in the area for the setting up of factories.

“Establishing factories in rural areas is an ideal solution for the shortage of the labour force in the apparel industry. Many workers want to have jobs in their villages”, the Chairman said.

Devapura who had 30 garment factories earlier in different parts of the island said that most of his factories were shut down.

The company reopened four factories in Kamburupitiya, Ambalantota, Buttala and Welimada recently providing job opportunities for nearly 2500 people in these areas.

The Government has provided Rs. 510 million for the reopening of these factories. This is a long-term loan provided under an interest free facility.

‘We recruit old and new employees for these factories and now these factories have commenced operations, he said.

Tri-Star has 11 garment factories in operation now providing direct employment to 10,000.