Govt. moves to cut investment red tape with high-powered Business Facilitation Centre

Wednesday, 26 August 2026 00:21 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Cabinet Spokesman

and Minister

Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa

By Charumini de Silva

The Government is moving to establish a National Business Facilitation Centre under the Presidential Secretariat, with the aim of breaking down fragmented approval processes and giving investors a single high-powered mechanism to navigate the State machinery.

The Cabinet of Ministers approved the establishment of the Centre on Monday to facilitate investors and coordinate State agencies, while providing a mechanism with sufficient authority to address administrative barriers and improve policymaking in the industrial sector.

Cabinet Spokesman and Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa stressed that the initiative was not intended to replace the Board of Investment (BOI), but to strengthen coordination among the numerous State institutions involved in approving and facilitating investments.

“At present the investors do most of their work in running into many State organisations and BOI also cannot do it alone,” he said at the weekly post-Cabinet media briefing yesterday.

The move seeks to address a longstanding structural problem in Sri Lanka’s investment environment, where a single project can require approvals from multiple agencies operating with limited coordination and overlapping mandates.

Investors frequently face delays in securing land, environmental approvals, regulatory licences, electricity and water connections, as well as banking and financing facilities, according to the Cabinet proposal.

The Government has identified the fragmentation of these processes as a key impediment to domestic investment, with administrative delays discouraging entrepreneurs and slowing the commencement of projects.

The proposed Centre is therefore expected to function as a single coordinating mechanism, guiding investors through the approval process while bringing relevant State agencies into a more integrated framework.

“Importantly, the Government intends to give the new institution greater authority to coordinate agencies and identify policy and administrative bottlenecks, rather than simply creating another layer of bureaucracy,” he explained.

Dr. Jayatissa said the Centre would also draw on expertise from outside the conventional public service, with plans to recruit private sector specialists, experienced public officials and other professionals on a contractual basis.

The proposal to this effect was submitted by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.