Act of Parliament · As enacted
Strategic Development Projects (Amendment) Act 2025
Official English translation. Where it differs from the Sinhala or Tamil text, the Act itself says which text prevails.
Official translationFrom Department of Government Printing, unchanged
s 1Short title
This Act may be cited as the Strategic Development
Projects (Amendment) Act, No. 26 of 2025.
s 2Amendment of section 2 of Act, No.14 of 2008
Section 2 of the Strategic Development Projects Act,
No. 14 of 2008 (hereinafter referred to as the “principal enactment”), as last amended by Act, No. 12 of 2011, is hereby further amended in proviso thereof, by the substitution for the words “twenty-five years.”, of the words “ten years.”.
s 3Replacement of section 3 of the principal enactment
Section 3 of the principal enactment is hereby repealed and the following section is substituted therefor: -
3. (1) The Board of Investment of
Sri Lanka shall, subject to the criteria as may be prescribed, identify any proposed project as a Strategic Development Project.
Upon being identified the proposed project as a Strategic Development Project, the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka shall refer such project proposal to the Ministry of
Finance for ex-ante cost-benefit analysis.
The Ministry of Finance shall, with the technical input from the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka, carry out such ex-ante cost-benefit analysis of the project and submit a recommendation to the Board of Investment of
Sri Lanka within one month from the date of such reference under subsection (2).
“Identification of Strategic
Development
Project
The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka shall, upon being satisfied that such a project meets the eligibility criteria as prescribed under subsection (1) and having regard to the recommendation made under subsection (3), grant such number of years of tax holiday and any exemption or concession as may be prescribed.
Upon the identification of a project as a Strategic Development Project under this section, the Board of Investment of
Sri Lanka shall communicate such decision to the Minister.
The
Minister shall, with the concurrence of the Cabinet of Ministers, publish an Order in the Gazette, specifying –
the name and nature of the Strategic
Development Project;
the date on which the exemptions from the enactments specified in the Schedule hereto, granted in terms of section 2, shall become operative in respect of that project;
and
any other necessary information as he deems appropriate.
Such Order made under subsection (6), shall be placed before Parliament for information.”.
s 4Replacement of section 4 of the principal enactment
Section 4 of the principal enactment is hereby repealed and the following sections are substituted therefor: -
4.
"Ex-post
The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka shall, from time to time as it deems appropriate, carry out ex-post monitoring in respect of any
Strategic Development Project and submit a report to the Ministry of Finance.
Project
The Ministry of Finance shall disclose the project outcomes and fiscal impacts of the project to the public by publication of the report submitted under subsection (1) on its official website.
Where any Strategic Development
Project fails to comply with the approved key performance indicators, the Board of
Investment of Sri Lanka shall issue a notice of non-compliance to the Strategic Development
Project Entity, which shall include—
the nature of the non-compliance;
and
a specified period of time for corrective action.
Where any Strategic Development
Project fails to take corrective action within the period of time specified by the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka, the Board of
Investment of Sri Lanka may, in consultation with the Ministry of Finance, and having regard to the nature and gravity of the non-compliance, take one or more of the following actions:-
restrict, suspend or revoke any or all exemptions, concessions or tax holiday granted under this
Act in respect of the Strategic
Development Project; or monitoring of Strategic
Development
impose administrative penalties to recover the loss incurred in that connection.
4A.
Notice to
The Board of Investment of Sri
Lanka shall, before taking action specified in paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection (4) of section 4, issue a notice in writing to the Strategic
Development Project Entity, specifying the grounds for the action.
A notice under subsection (1) shall require the Strategic Development Project
Entity to show cause within a period of one month from the date of receipt of the notice, as to why the sanctions specified in paragraph (a)
or (b) of subsection (4) of section 4 shall not be imposed.
The Strategic Development Project
Entity shall be afforded a reasonable opportunity to be heard, either in person or through an authorised representative, before a final decision is made.
Upon the consideration of any representations made by the
Strategic
Development
Project
Entity or its representative, the Board of Investment of
Sri Lanka may, for the reasons to be recorded in writing, restrict, suspend, or revoke any or all exemptions, concessions or tax holiday granted under this Act in respect of the Strategic
Development Project or impose administrative penalties to recover the loss incurred in that connection.
4B. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 2 –
every
Strategic
Development
Project Entity shall file tax returns show cause
Liability to pay the tax in terms of the provisions of Inland
Revenue Act, No. 24 of 2017;
every
Strategic
Development
Project Entity shall be liable to pay income tax with respect to withholding payments; and
every employment income of resident and non-resident employee from any Strategic
Development Project Entity shall be liable to pay income tax.
4C.
of the tax
The tax holiday period applicable to a Strategic Development Project shall commence on the date of commencement of commercial operations of such project, as certified by the Board of Investment of
Sri Lanka.
The tax holiday period granted to a
Strategic Development Project under this Act shall not be extended under any circumstances.
4D.
of tax
The Ministry of Finance shall, in respect of each financial year, publish on its official website an annual report on tax expenditures relating to all Strategic Development Projects under this Act.
4E.
Project Review
The Ministry of Finance may, in consultation with the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka, review the continued relevance and efficiency of the exemptions, concessions or tax holiday granted under this Act, upon the expiry of five years from the date of commencement of this section.
Commencement holiday period
Annual report expenditures for the Strategic
Development
4F. (1) The Minister may make regulations in respect of matters for which regulations are authorized or required to be made or to be prescribed by this Act.
Every regulation made by the Minister shall be published in the Gazette and shall come into operation on the date of such publication or on such later date as may be specified in such regulation.
Every regulation made by the Minister, shall within a period of three months after its publication in the Gazette, be brought before
Parliament for approval. Any regulation which is not so approved, shall be deemed to be rescinded as from the date of such disapproval, but without prejudice to anything duly done thereunder.
A Notification of the date of disapproval shall be published in the Gazette.
s 5Replacement of section 6 of the principal enactment
Section 6 of the principal enactment is hereby repealed and the following section is substituted therefor: -
6. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires –
“Board of Investment of Sri Lanka”
means, the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka, established under the provisions of the Board of
Investment of Sri Lanka Law,
No. 4 of 1978;
“Minister” means, the Minister assigned the subject of Investment under
Article 44 or 45 of the Constitution;
and
“Interpretation
Regulations
“Strategic Development Project Entity”
means an enterprise with which the
Board of Investment of Sri Lanka has entered into an agreement under the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka Law, No. 4 of 1978
and identified as a Strategic
Development
Project, under
Section 3 of this Act.”.
s 6Avoidance of doubt
For the avoidance of doubt, it is hereby declared that any tax holiday, exemptions and concessions or other benefit lawfully granted to a Strategic Development Project prior to the coming into operation of this Amendment Act shall, subject to compliance with the terms and conditions attached thereto, continue to be valid for the duration specified therein.
s 7Sinhala text to prevail in case of inconsistency
In the event of any inconsistency between the Sinhala and Tamil texts of this Act, the Sinhala text shall prevail.