• Ministry silent on failures

Observations from the Ministry of Industry audit reports reveal numerous losses that have been incurred due to project abandonment, long-term idleness, or underutilisation of land.

The Auditor General’s ‘Triennial Report 2021-2023 on Ministries and State Ministries’ has noted shortcomings in the establishment and continuation of industrial estates in a number of areas.

According to the report, due to the suspension of the project for establishing small- and medium-scale industrial zones at divisional and district levels in 2023, Rs. 3,266,558 which had been spent in 2022 had become fruitless.

It has detailed that this money has been spent on surveying lands, clearance, and preparing the plan for plotting the lands at four industrial estates in Girandurukotte, Dimbulagala, Dikwella, and Trincomalee.

Furthermore, it has revealed that 60 acres of land at the Bata Atha Industrial Estate in the Hambantota District remain underutilised. 

In addition, the report notes that 89 plots of land in 109.5 acres relating to 17 industrial parks remained idle, despite being allocated to industrialists as of 31 December 2023, due to the lands not being released.

In its 2024 Annual Performance Report, the Ministry of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development has identified difficulties in finding suitable land for industrial estates as a challenge.

However, the report goes on to say that in 2024, vacant land blocks of industrial estates had been allocated for 24 projects of new investors.

When contacted to verify reports of factories not being set up in nine industrial zones despite spending over Rs. 15,000 million, Ministry Secretary Thilaka Jayasundara declined to comment over the phone.

Several attempts to contact Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development Sunil Handunnetti and Deputy Minister Chathuranga Abeysinghe proved futile.