India Inc eyes Sri Lanka for projects

A host of Indian companies are planning to develop projects across sectors in the island nation of Sri Lanka.

The companies have already identified land and have also received approval from the Sri Lankan government for their projects.

“Larsen and Toubro (L&T) is constructing a commercial complex here and the total cost of the project will be $50 million,” Sri Lanka Board of Investment’s Director, C Ignatius, told PTI here.

The company has already acquired land for project and is expected to be completed by next year, Ignatius said.

The engineering and construction major has already developed projects in Sri Lanka such as a 26-storey residential apartment at Colombo, design and construction of urea storage silo and prill tower for a fertiliser complex and design, test, manufacture and supply of 33Kv, 132Kv and 220Kv transmission line towers for Sri Lanka’s electricity board.

A Bangalore-based commercial and residential property developer, Girish Puravankara-run Lalith Gangadhar Constructions Ltd, is also constructing residential villas outside Colombo, he said.

“Puravankara is developing villas on the outskirts of Colombo. The project will be spread over an area of 25 acres,” Ignatius said.

“The price of each villa will be around $200,000 and while demand might be low for such villas presently, demand for such high-end villas is expected to increase in the near future,” he said.

India’s largest mobile operator, Bharti Airtel, has already started its mobile services in Sri Lanka under the Airtel brand.

NTPC is building a 1,000 Mw thermal power plant along with Sri Lanka’s electricity board.

“NTPC is going to sign a final agreement to construct a 1,000 Mw coal-based power plant in Sampur city of Eastern Trincomalee by end-this month with an investment of $500 million,” Ignatius said.

“We have met IT companies like HCL, Mphasis and Accenture for setting up delivery centres and BPOs in Sri Lanka. They have shown an interest,” he said.

Companies like ICICI Bank, Aditya Birla Group, Tata group, Indian Oil Corporation and Ashok Leyland, among others, are already present in Sri Lanka.