Port City SEZ – A catalyst for Modern Services in Sri Lanka

June 4, 2020   Reading Time: 2 minutes

Reading Time: 2 min read

Launched in 2014, Port City Colombo is Sri Lanka’s most ambitious development project in its over 70 years of post-independence history. Yet there is little academic and policy-oriented analysis on the long-term competitiveness of the Port City Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and its potential to become a catalyst for services-led growth in Sri Lanka.

The LKI report ‘’Port City SEZ – A Catalyst for Modern Services in Sri Lanka” explores Sri Lanka’s position as a modern services hub, global and local scenarios that might shape the evolution of Port City and insights from advanced, services-based and established SEZs for developing Sri Lanka’s policy regime for Port City. The report suggests that Sri Lanka has the twin advantages of leveraging a strategic geographical location and drawing on the experience of SEZs elsewhere on what works and what does not. It concludes that putting in place conducive national economic policies and a competitive SEZ framework will markedly improve the odds for Port City to succeed over time in the backdrop of a challenging post-COVID-19 economic era.

The findings of the report were discussed by Dr. Ganeshan Wignaraja, Executive Director of LKI during a webinar titled “Colombo Port City: Potential growth impact for Sri Lanka” hosted by PwC on 04 June 2020. The report was prepared in-house by a core team consisting of Dr. Wignaraja, Mr. Adam Collins (former Research Fellow) and Ms. Angela Huettemann (Research Fellow). They were supported by inputs from others within LKI including Dr. Dinusha Panditaratne (Non-Resident Fellow and Former Executive Director, LKI), Mrs. Radhika De Silva (Deputy Director, LKI), Ms. Anishka De Zylva (Global Scholar, LKI), Ms. Pabasara Kannangara (Research Associate, LKI), Ms. Chathuni Pabasara (Senior Research Assistant, LKI), and Ms. Aamina Mustaqdeen (former Communications Intern, LKI).

Download the report here.

Link to the recorded webinar video:
http://www.ft.lk/ft_tv/Colombo-Port-City-Potential-growth-impact-for-Sri-Lanka/10520-701158

Refer to this Lanka Business Online article for more on the webinar.