Industrial Exports and Investment Promotion, Tourism and Aviation Minister Prasanna Ranatunga yesterday directed the Board Of Investment (BOI) to make sure that no worker will be sacked from any factory and no factory will be closed owing to the COVID-19 outbreak in the country.
Minister Ranatunga advised the BOI to take steps to provide immediate solutions to the problems faced by factory owners as well as ensuring the job security of the employees.
The Minister made these remarks during the meeting held yesterday with the participation of officials in Industrial Exports and Investment Promotion sectors. Issues pertaining to the future activities and challenges to be faced by these sectors after COVID-19 pandemic has been successfully controlled in the country were extensively discussed during the meeting.
He added that not only Sri Lanka, but the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected almost all industries all over the world. “Therefore, we must pay immediate attention to the issues faced by local industrialists due to this pandemic. Factory owners must strictly adhere to the instructions and guidelines issued by the health authorities when work is resumed,” the Minister stressed.
The Minister directed the BOI to create mechanism to monitor whether the factories are following the guidelines after resumption of work with the assistance of the local and municipal health authorities.
Director General of the Board of Investment (BOI) Sanjaya Mohottala said that 79 percent of factories located in Free Trade Zones (FTZ) have already resumed production utilizing a minimum number of workers according the health instructions. He added that more factories will resume production shortly. A number of FTZ and BOI companies are in talks with UNICEF to supply 10 million pieces of PPE kits per week in the next few months. Nearly 80,000 workers are employed in the FTZs around the country.
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