High level of poverty exists in the Northern Province

Although the conflict in the Northern Province ended almost 10 years ago there is still a high level of poverty and low level of productivity especially in the farming and fisheries sectors with soaring unemployment.

This was stated by Dr. Thomas Kring, Chief Technical Advisor of the ILO at a workshop held at the Movenpick Hotel in Colombo this week under the topic, “Bottlenecks for the Private Sector Investment in the Northern Province”.

“We are working with the cooperatives network in the North and also with micro enterprises to strengthen and improve productivity of the women work force. We will be able to sustain this kind of work only if we can attract investments to the North,” he said.

Dr. Kring said investments are a milestone for economic growth especially for small investments to grow. ‘ We are also happy to have private sector participation to find solutions for bottlenecks in the Northern Province. The “Bottlenecks for Private Sector Investment in the Northern Province” project started in 2011, he said

Nihal Devagiri, ILO National Project Coordinator for the Local Empowerment through Economic Development ( LEED) said the Northern Province project is funded by the Governments of Australia and Norway and will run until 2022.

The main objective of the project is to create sustainable and decent employment for people who live in vulnerable situations in the Northern Province. “We are planning to expand this project to other parts of the country viz the district of Anuradhapura and other provinces based on request. We also want to form a partnership with the cooperative network in the Northern Province and work with the micro enterprises in the North with the women folk.”

He said the economy in the Northern Province is based on agriculture with a small market that limits income generation. The growth of the SME’s in the North is also hampered as a result of the mindset of people who do not wish to collaborate with new projects being launched in these areas. There is also stiff competition between the private and the cooperative sector which can result in the death of the later. However big companies in Sri Lanka have also brought in new technology and investment to the Northern Province. The poverty level of women in the North is extremely high, along with disabled persons, he added.

Arjuna Herath of Ernst and Young Consultants thanked the ILO for commissioning Ernst and Young to do a feasibility study on issues affecting the North’s SME businesses.

He said that many private sector investors had expressed that the size of the Northern Province is not an attractive market with a population of 1.2 million people for export purposes. The lack of cold storage facilities for perishable goods can be a challenge although the road network has improved. Air frequency to the north is not good enough for businessmen who want to fly, up and down, on the same day, he added.

Rodney Fernando of Ernst and Young also made a presentation.