(UDHAYAM, COLOMBO) – The country is drawing up plans to attract large number of rich tourists to the country by mid this year and it will help to increase the income of the country, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said.
Addressing a gathering in Kiribathgoda on Monday (03), the Premier said that they should work towards making Sri Lanka a banking hub as well as the financial hub in South Asia. Already, we are forming the laws to facilitate the above, he added.
He said that a major company from Thailand is planning to invest in Kalutara area. Galle and Matara will also be converted as a high-end tourism zone. Hambantota will be made the hub of the industrialization in Ruhuna and 900 factories will be set up in that area developing it to the standards of Colombo and Gampaha.
It is also expected to develop the surrounding areas of Trincomalee Harbor as a tourism zone as well as an industrial zone by a Singaporean company. He said that they are also planning to develop Anuradhapura, Ampara, and Batticoloa as tourism zones.
Plans should also be drawn up to develop Badulla and Nuwara Eliya as tourism zones and also agriculture. The destroyed economy of the North should be built within the next two years. “We are also willing to establish trade zones in Monaragala and Wellawaya on the request of Minister Madduma Bandara”, the Premier added.