Sri Lanka will establish five technological parks in three cities, aiming to provide exposure and opportunity to Sri Lankan youths in the field of information technology (IT). The parks will be set up in Kandy, Galle, and Karunegala.

The first park will come up in Galle with state-of-the-art technology facilities that will create thousands of job opportunities in the IT sector, announced Namal Rajapaksha, Sri Lankan state minister for Digital Technology and Enterprise Development. 

Rajapaksa visited the site of the first park in Galle last week and took stock of the preparation there. The preliminary work on the park will begin by July this year. It will create around 500 jobs in IT and another 2500 short-term jobs.

For some years now, the Sri Lankan government has been pushing for expanding the IT sector. Every year, thousands in the country get their degrees in engineering and other IT courses. 

 The export revenue from the IT industry in Sri Lanka is close to $1.2 billion, with immense potential for further growth. 

In April this year, Ashok Pathirage, the chairman of Softlogic Holdings PVC, one of the biggest IT firms in the country, had said that the industry could easily touch $10 billion in export revenue if the right focus and thinking were in place. 

(SAM)