BOI To Seize Unused Property

Sunday, 14 June 2015

The unused properties under the Board of Investment (BOI) by the investors are to be seized, BOI Chairman, Attorney-at-law Upul Jayasuriya said.

Jayasuriya said that investors who have failed to make use of land given to them under BOI deals at Export Processing Zones (EPZ) have been asked to release lands.

“There is a dearth of land at the Export Processing Zones and unless we take them back we are blocking the opportunities for other prospective investors,” Jayasuriya added

According to Jayasuriya, three unused lands at Katunayake, Seethawaka and Wathupitiwela export processing zones have already been taken over recently by the BOI in order to give away for new investment projects. “The Katunayake land is in extent of 3.56 acres, Seethawaka is in extent of 9.33 acres and the Watupitiwela land is 1.7 acres of extent. In addition to these we have initiated to take over all unused lands in Seethawaka, Katunayake, Malwatte and Biyagama export processing zones,” Jayasuriya claimed.

Speaking on how the former BOI managements failed to take over the unused lands that blocked the opportunities of attracting more investors to the country, Jayasuriya said that he was surprised the way an investor who signed the agreement to construct 100 housing units was allowed to retain a large land for 14 years from year 2000.

“This particular investor has been allowed to get the initial agreement changed for over three times and has been given several extensions to initiate the project. Although the previous managements have asked this investor to release the unused lands they had allowed the developer to violate the agreements to his whims and fancies. Since we cannot allow one particular investor to keep unutilized land for such a long period, I had to terminate the agreement entered with them in March. Likewise all other unused lands will be taken over one by one,” Jayasuriya said.

However Jayasuriya reiterated that the BOI does not have any personal agenda in taking over these lands and added that although this can cause lot of unpleasantness, this method is carried out without exception.
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