‘Govt would ensure local industries’ survival’

The Board of Investment (BoI) will not allow any industry to collapse and the government would assist industries to enable them to boom, said Investment Promotion Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena.

Addressing a gathering at the inauguration of the S & D factory in Biyagama last week, he said that he was pleased to see the company bouncing back in a short period after an unfortunate incident that led almost to the closure of the company. 

He said that there is a notion that the government gives more room and prominence to foreign companies to grow, but in reality, if a local company needs assistance they would do their utmost to give more space.

Yapa said that of the total investment that had come into the country since the setting up of the BOI in 1978, more than 74 per cent had come after President Mahinda Rajapaksa assumed office in 2005.

Yapa said that the scenario has now changed with regard to investing here as the infrastructure has been improved drastically even in very remote areas of the country.

He also said that with the construction of the Northern expressway it would be possible to reach any part of the country within two to two and a half hours.

The minister who was very late due to traffic congestion, while apologizing, added that an investor will be able to reach his factory in two hours with the improvement of infrastructure and that will in turn result in more investments in rural areas in the future.

Central Environment Authority (CEA) chairman Dr. Saranga Alhapperuma said that though he clamped a suspension on the company due to a minor accident on their part, he was pleased to witness the reinauguration of the factory.

He said that while considering and giving prominence to the environment, development cannot be ruled out. Citing examples, if Singapore had not thought to the green model and development it would have remained a mud pond.

S&D Chemicals Pvt. Ltd. chairman Dayantha de Silva said the new project which has a total value of more than USD 4 million has a workforce on nearly 100 staff, including highly skilled local and overseas chemical engineers, chemists and other professions.

The company is in technical collaboration with CHT R Beitlich GMBH, a renowned German research based company for exchanging knowledge for conducting research projects for regular development of new products. This company is the world’s largest spender on research and development in the area of textile chemicals.

According to the chairman, in addition to manufacturing, they represent some of the world’s best chemical manufacturers in Sri Lanka.

"We are one of the global suppliers for MNCs, such as UniLever, Proctor & Gamble, etc for some intermediate products for their final production.

"We have also established our own offices in Bangladesh, Maldives, Vietnam and Dubai and through them cater most of our products to these export markets. What we started as a localized company in Sri Lanka is now a technically and geographically expanded organization which is exporting around the world, its trade mark product portfolio including countries, such as, Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Dubai, Kenya, etc. with the annual turnover exceeding USD 18 million in the past two years and plans are afoot to double it by next year, he added.

S& D Associates was established in 1998 with the initial focus on manufacturing Cleaning & Sanitation products aimed at the hospitality and healthcare industry and a few intermediate products for textile auxiliaries. Since then, the company has grown many fold and now has diversified into a variety of new product areas - catering to different industries, including manufacturing & marketing of cleaning & sanitation chemicals, total range of textile auxiliaries, garment wet processing chemicals, sealants, surface coatings, adhesives, paints, inks, rubber, plastic, home & personal care, ceramic, modified starches and carboxymethyl cellulose. Being one of the very few companies with polymerization capabilities in the country, they manufacture and supply a number of polymers to different industry segments of the market.