The government will be able to create 20,000 job opportunities within one week with the opening of two factories at Pannala and Kuliyapitiya last Tuesday another one at Koggala and the Ruhuna Industrial Zone on Saturday, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said.
The Prime Minister made these comments speaking at the ceremony to lay the foundation stone to build Sri Lanka’s largest integrated tyre manufacturing plant at Wagawatte, Horana yesterday with a Rs. 11.25 billion investment.
Rigid Tyre Corporation (Pvt.) Ltd. (Marangoni of Italy) is the investor for the project which will create over 3,000 job opportunities, both direct and indirect.
The tyre plant, being the first of its kind in Sri Lanka, is commissioned to manufacture the whole gamut of tyres that roll on the roads, and off it (OTR Tyres) using raw material from Sri Lanka. In addition, it will also produce other value added rubber products.
Around 75 percent of the production is to be imported with Europe being the main target market.
While noting this as an unprecedented achievement, the Premier added that more such ventures were in the pipeline.
Speaking about the investment zone in Hambantota, the Prime Minister said 95 percent of the land acquired for the project were government land currently not used for any productive purpose.
The Premier said the government has no intention to acquire people’s land by force and added that these efforts were aimed to uplift the economy, job creation and improve people’s living standards
Ministers Mahinda Amaraweera, Mahinda Samarasinghe, Navin Dissanayake, Horana UNP Organiser Hemantha Wickremarachchi and Rigid Tyre Corporation Communication division head also spoke.
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