Page 28 - CPM Sri Lanka-Chartered Manager-Sept. 2021

THE INSTITUTE OF CHARTERED PROFESSIONAL MANAGERS OF SRI LANKA
SEPTEMBER 2021
The Supreme Court held that 25 of clauses
of the Port City Colombo Economic
Commission were in contravention of the
Constitution. The Bill that was passed in
Parliament was post amendments. How
can you convince investors of what the
intention of the Commission is after these
revisions?
I believe that it is a testament of the democratic
process followed in Sri Lanka and I am sure
investors would appreciate that the Bill was
appraised by the Supreme Court and ratified in
Parliament. What is important to note is that the
fundamental legal construct of the Bill was not
by any means compromised post amendments.
The Port City Economic Commission as the Single
Window Facilitator has sufficient economic and
administrative autonomy to manage this city
in an orderly and in an efficient manner. The
objective of the Port City Colombo Economic
Commission Bill was to promote ease of doing
business by addressing some of the inherent
pain points and to create a destination appeal
to attract FDIs and large MNCs to set up in Port
City. I believe this law is quite progressive and we
can now have some serious conversations with
potential investors and brands to consider Sri
Lanka as an appealing place to do business.
Based on your discussions with potential
investors, what would you identify as the
most crucial factors that would attract
investors?
Ease of Doing Business and when that gets really
difficult and faced with various issues, then you
need to throw-in sweeteners like fiscal incentives.
We rank 99 today, 5yrs ago we were 99. India in
2015 was 130 and today 63, China was 84 and
today 31. This further emphasize the importance
placed on ease of doing business by other major
26
countries who are competing to attract FDIs.
Immigration policy, paying taxes, clear foreign
exchange rules, access to labour & skilled levels,
cost and labour laws, external connectivity and
finally protection of their investment and ability
to repatriate profits and capital upon exit.
Above all, more importantly, what they look for
is a responsive & a well-functioning Agency,
where very clear guidelines and information
can be obtained remotely and through desktop
research on what can be expected and the
process required to be followed in setting up their
business and Not be subject to some Ministers
discretion…but a transparent process. Ideally,
Port City should be an exemplary city from an
administrative and governance perspective and
such policies once tested and proven should be
selectively rolled-out in rest of Sri Lanka.
How will the Port City support the tourism
sector to realize its full potential?
City tourism has been a key offering across most
countries that attract significant tourist traffic.
Unfortunately, in Colombo this has not been the
case – tourists have only spent about a day in the
city often as a transit destination upon arrival or
just prior to departure. This is predominantly due
to the lack of adequate entertainment and tourist
offerings and inadequate promotion.