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Dhammika to implement ‘Sri Lanka 2030’ plan if new Ministry assigned

13 Jun 2022

  • Eyes $ 14 bn from local and foreign investments by 2025
  • Aims to leapfrog SL's Doing Business ranking by 50 spots
By Imesh Ranasinghe  Dhammika Perera is set to implement his “Sri Lanka 2030” plan under the new Ministry of Technology and Investment Promotion that is widely speculated to be assigned to him. For a query put forward by The Morning Business inquiring about his plans under the new Ministry, if received, Perera directed towards his plans detailed in his manifesto titled “Sri Lanka 2030 – A Developed Nation” under the Ministry of Technology and Investment Promotion. The manifesto, released in 2019, gives Perera’s plans covering all ministries in Sri Lanka, and according to his plans under investment promotion, he has put forward action plans to ensure $ 7 billion in annual local investment by 2025, $ 7 billion in annual Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) by 2025, improve Sri Lanka’s rank in the Ease of Doing Business Index from 100 to 50 by 2022, and improve Sri Lanka’s rank in the Global Competitiveness Index from 85 to 45 by 2022. The action plans include streamlining the investment approval process by reducing the number of pages in the investment application from 14 to three, providing a preliminary approval within 24 hours, and simplifying the rules and regulations of the investment approval process to overcome red tape. Also, he suggested granting guaranteed tax benefits in agreement with the Board of Investment (BOI) for 25 years, to gain the competitive advantage of investing in Sri Lanka. Some of the sectors that will be exempt from corporate tax, value-added tax, and dividend tax for 25 years under this proposal would be education, information services, air transport, and the manufacture of motor vehicles. Additionally, Perera’s plans under the Technology Ministry include increasing ICT revenue from $ 1.2 billion to $ 5 billion by 2025, increasing ICT jobs from 80,000 employees to 400,000 employees by 2025, and transforming developed Sri Lanka into a “Smart Sri Lanka” in 2030. Perera in his plan intends to develop Sri Lanka into a “Smart Sri Lanka” in three years and achieve the status of an emerging market by 2030 with the use of an AI-driven unified ICT platform for all public services. Some of his focus areas include smart education, smart health, smart agriculture, smart transport, and smart tourism. His targets for the private sector include a fourfold increase in ICT revenue from $ 1.2 billion to $ 5 billion by 2025, a fivefold increase in ICT jobs from 80,000 employees to 400,000 employees by 2025, and the provision of 30.2 million sq. ft. in office buildings and IT parks to accommodate an additional 320,000 employees, with 0% corporate tax guaranteed for the next 25 years for office buildings and IT parks through the BOI, and a target of $ 10 billion in annual revenue for the IT industry, with a total of 800,000 employees by 2030.


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