Port City investors to get BSI status and concessions

Aframework to designate investors of Colombo Port City as “businesses of strategic importance” (BSIs) along with 40-year incentives and exemptions will be gazetted shortly after the Cabinet this week granted approval for the long-overdue procedure.

This will clear the way for investors to take out 99-year leases on the reclaimed property and set up businesses, more than two years after the Colombo Port City Economic

Commission (CPCEC) Act was passed in May 2021. In the absence of the framework, only Browns Investments PLC had obtained six parcels of land for US$ 114mn.

It is not immediately known what sort of incentives, such as tax waivers, are on the cards. The Act already exempts investors from the Inland Revenue Act, the Value Added Tax Act and a series of other laws that are operational outside the Port City.

Also not applicable are the betting, gaming, casino and entertainment laws. And investors have already shown interest in the largest plot of land, which has been set aside for an integrated resort. There has also been considerable interest from the Middle East. The areas are diversified--real estate, tourism and hospitality, medical, schools, etc.

The CPEC Act allows for designation of BSIs by the Commission in consultation with the President or relevant Minister. Investors are expected to make a 100 percent foreign investment and not to borrow from Sri Lankan banks.

In December last year, the Government gazetted regulations to fully permit the registration of offshore companies in the Port City. And guidelines for businesses to obtain operating licences were published in late September. Also last year, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka authorised a special class of bank account called the Colombo Port City Investment Account exclusively to carry out business in the Port City Special Economic Zone (SEZ).