Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has announced that an industrial zone to be built in Bingiriya, in the west of Sri Lanka, will be developed through a public-private partnership. The Treasury will contract a suitable partner from the private sector, either local or overseas. 

During an inspection on Monday of the site to be developed, Wickremesinghe requested that the relevant institutions, such as the Board of Investment (BOI), start work on the infrastructure facilities of the industrial zone. 

BOI Executive Director Upali Senarath said the Bingiriya industrial zone will be developed in three phases. The first phase is to cost LKR1.3 billion (US$8.4 million). It will involve the development, primarily the construction of factories, of 300 acres of land.

Some local businessmen have already expressed interest in the industrial zone. This includes electrical appliances manufacturers, pharmaceutical product manufacturers and medicines manufacturers. 

This is the second industrial zone being developed through a PPP in Sri Lanka. In August this year the government  announced a partnership with Thailand-based Rojana Industrial Park, a joint venture of Japan’s Nippon Steel and Thailand’s Vinichbutr Group, to develop an industrial zone in Kalatura, a district in the south-west of the country. 

In a speech made to Parliament on 20 November 2017, the Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade, Malik Samarawickrama, revealed that the government intends to also establish industrial zones in Mawathagama, which is in the same district as Bingiriya - Kurunegala, and Weligama, a popular tourist destination on the south coast.