Luxury Fleet

June 15, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Thursday sought interest from investors to bid for nine licenses to operator taxi services in the country, an official said. Those interested have been given two months to register and pick up a copy of the information memorandum. Starting August 14, the licenses will be issued via a transparent bidding process on the Colombo Stock Exchange.

"The bidding process will be spread over nine days, each day set aside for a license. Investors have to register first, open a new central depository account and bid through their stockbroker," Vajira Kulatilake, CEO NDB Investment Bank told LBO.

Each operator can bid for a maximum of three licenses with duty free concessions to import 100 brand new cars in two models.

Investors can either choose to import:
â€¢ all 100 vehicles with 2000 cc capacity or
â€¢ 25 vehicles with 3000 cc capacity and 75 with 2000 cc capacity.

Investors have to bear the cost of insurance and freight value for the entire fleet of cars.

The project should either be financed through foreign direct investments or foreign currency banking unit balances, said NDB Investment Bank, who