Envoy Urges Malaysians To Explore Sri Lanka For Infrastructure Projects

COLOMBO, May 3, 2008  (Bernama) -- With Sri Lanka hungry for foreign investments to fix its economy, Malaysian investors could well take advantage of the booming infrastructure sector and focus their investments to the island, says Malaysian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Rosli Ismail.

He said several Malaysian companies had made successful foray into the country and the time was ripe for more investors to enter the South Asian market.

"Time for Malaysian companies to look at Sri Lanka's potential because the country is developing. They should take the lead from the existing Malaysian companies here which are doing very well," Rosli told Bernama.

Several Malaysian companies like Dialog Telekom Plc, a subsidiary of TM International Bhd, MTD Construction HeiTech Padu Bhd had ventured into the country despite a civil war earlier that had ripped the economy for nearly 30 years, killing more than 70,000 people.

But Sri Lanka's economy is now registering more than six percent growth and Colombo is slowly bustling with commercial activities that were absent for several years.

Malaysia remains the largest investor in the country, mainly in telecommunications, infrastructure and property development. Dialog, for instance, was the single largest investor in Sri Lanka last year with close to RM1 billion (US$328 million) investments.

The present government had introduced the 10-year economic development policy the "Mahinda Chintana" - where the focus is to steer investments to vital sectors such as agriculture and infrastructure development to pump up the economy further.

"The government is trying hard to develop infrastructure like bridges, houses and highways, there are ample opportunities in the infrastructure sector for Malaysians and Sri Lankan companies are also keen to form JVs (joint venture) with Malaysian companies," he added.

Education and tourism are other potential sectors for Malaysian investors. More Sri Lankans are also visiting Malaysia - about 20,000 from the island state visited last year, compared to 10,000 visitors previously.