BOI and Aitken Spence officials

Blue-chip conglomerate Aitken Spence has entered into an agreement with the Board of Investment (BOI) to kick off operations of two garment factories that halted operations recently, due to reduced orders.
The BOI announced in a statement to the media that following its intervention, Aitken Spence is pumping in an investment of about US $ 3.6 million in the first phase to re-establish the two factories that are located in the Koggala Investment Processing Zone. 
The factories will operate under the banner ‘Ace Apparels’ and there are plans to further expand operations, the statement said. The agreement with the BOI and Ace Apparels was inked on July 28.

Although not disclosing the previous operators of the two garment factories, the BOI shared that the facilities previously catered exclusively to the US market. 
“About 2500 people, who were making a living, lost their jobs due to this. The value of the machinery of these factories located in the Koggala Investment Processing Zone is hundreds of millions of US dollars,” the BOI said.

According to Ace Apparels CEO Lushan Perera, the factory will operate under a new vision and is expected to generate substantial new job opportunities. Steps are taken to start production within two months.
At present, the Koggala Investment Processing Zone has a workforce of 11,000 (direct jobs), which will increase to 13,500 with the two factories resuming operations.
Perera added that given the ongoing global economic crisis, Ace Apparels hopes to focus on competitive products and finding new markets, for which, more attention would be on emerging Asian countries such as India, China, Indonesia and Japan.