The previous government has invested over US$ 6 billion in an ad-hoc manner in the last seven years for projects in Hambantota, Megalopolis and Western Development Minister Champika Ranawaka said yesterday.
He said that had this money been put into development of a project like the Megalopolis,it would have been more productive.
Speaking at the Sri Lanka Chamber of Commerce' Italian Business Council event on opportunities from the Colombo Megalopolis development project, he said the project which was planned in 2002 was unsuccessful since environmental constraints were not looked into and it lacked proper zonal planning.
The current Colombo Megalopolis development project will help to boost the economy with several infrastructure and other investments and he said he was confident that it could account for about 7% of the GDP in a few years. The project will help to convert Colombo as one of the top 10 livable cities in Asia by 2030.
Ranawaka said it will also help to bring down poverty and unemployment levels and will permanently solve the shanty dwellers problem in the city by 2020.
Minister said that under the Colombo Megalopolis development project maximum use of Sri Lankan raw materials such as quartz, graphite and granite will be done. "For this purpose the Nano Park in Homagama will be redeveloped."
In addition there would be separate areas for SME sector to gain access to new technology and produce items that are export oriented. He said under the Megalopolis project traffic congestion, sewerage, flooding, garbage collection issues too will be permanently solved.
"I am sure with these developments taking place Sri Lanka will be a high income earning country with the per capita income reaching over US$ 12,000 by 2030."
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