Ambani brothers to invest here

Irangika RANGE

Deputy Finance Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama yesterday revealed in Parliament that world leading billionaire businessmen Ambani brothers will arrive in Sri Lanka to explore possibilities of investing here.

He said the Ambani brothers have commenced investing in India's telecommunication sector which is one of the biggest and most successful business ventures in India.

The Ambani brothers are due here next week to look into the possibilities of investing in the Sri Lankan telecommunication sector. "It is a good and positive sign of economic development in our country despite the negative picture of the economy that the Opposition tries to show," Dr. Amunugama said. Moving several orders under the Finance Act relating to International Telecommunications Operators levy, the Deputy Minister said that Sri Lanka has recorded land mark achievements in telecommunication sector under the present regime.

Out of a 20 million population in Sri Lanka, 14 million of people use either mobile phones or fixed line telephones. This shows the remarkable development of the Telecommunication sector in Sri Lanka.

He said people who wanted a telephone connection had to line up in queues to get an approval from the Ministers or MPs during the time of the UNP.

This situation which prevailed a decade ago has now changed.

The telecommunication sector has been revolutionised in the world and we should explore the possibilities of keeping pace here.

The Minister said plans are afoot to make Sri Lanka the service hub of the Telecommunications in South Asia. "Today we have to seek possibilities of new income avenues since the economy can not depend on exports earnings on tea, coconut, rubber and foreign remittances earned by expatriates," he said.