Kuliyapitiya vehicle assembly plant’s investor given deadline

By Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana 

The investor of the Western Automobile vehicle assembly project in Kuliyapitiya is said to be given a deadline of two months to set up the proposed vehicle assembly plant.
This was revealed by Development Strategies and International Trade Minister Malik Samarawickrama in Parliament last morning. 

The project will be cancelled if the investor failed to go ahead with the projects in two months’ time, Minister Samarawickrama stressed. 

Responding to a question raised by UPFA MP Dayasiri Jayasekera in the House, Minister Samarawickrama said the investor has been given open letters of credit to bring in equipment for the plant. 

He said a sum of Rs.900 million has been invested for the setting up of roads, a training centre and other technical requirements. 

MP Jayasekera then questioned as to why  only a training centre is being set up after giving assurances that Germany’s Volkswagen will set up a manufacturing plant. 

Also he alleged that a paddy field has been filled up to construct the proposed plant. 

Minister Samarawickrama said the investor will assemble another reputed brand of vehicles in the Kuliyapitiya factory. 

He said Volkswagan could not invest in the factory as there was an issue faced by the mother company in Germany. 

Also he said there is no paddy field in the said plot of land where the factory is being set up. 

Referring to the training centre, Samarawickrama said it will be used only to train the employees of the plant.