Director General of the Board of Investment (BOI) of Sri Lanka Renuka Weerakone (PICTURED) said that a Digital Platform, which provides a fully automated process will be introduced for the first time to enable local and foreign investors to start their projects quickly.
This digital platform will make the process of obtaining the necessary approvals for investors’ projects easier and more efficient. Since such a system is not implemented in the country so far, it is observed that there is a delay in obtaining the necessary approvals for investors and moreover it leads to discourage investors.
Therefore, the BOI of Sri Lanka is currently taking the necessary steps to introduce a digital platform in the first phase. Under the second phase, steps will be taken to connect other government institutions to this digital platform. Accordingly, all institutions that provide approvals for projects, including the Road Development Authority, Water Supply Board, Environmental Authority, Coastal Conservation Authority and so on will be connected to this digital platform.
She added that this process is expected to be completed by the middle of this year. Accordingly, investors will be able to submit an investment application to the BOI of Sri Lanka online from anywhere in the world without coming to Sri Lanka.
Besides, it is significant that the real-time process of the application can also be monitored through the online system. She further said that in addition to reducing the time taken to process an application, many other facilities can be provided to investors including online payment methods, online approval process and a few more.
When asked how long it will take to obtain an approval she noted that the time taken to obtain approval may vary depending on the type of project and the area where the project is expected to be implemented.
However, she predicted that after the introduction of this new process, it will be possible to grant the necessary approvals within about a month for a project expected to be started in a Free Trade Zone (FTZ).
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