The Business Center Corporation (BCC) has stated that they are not planning to halt the garment factory project set to be established in Addu City, and they have decided to start the work as soon as the land is allocated.

BCC made this statement in response to a post made by Addu City Mayor Ali Nizar on X (formerly Twitter) last Sunday, claiming that the current government has not decided to proceed with the garment factory work in Addu. The MDP government had allocated funds for the garment factory and designated land for it. However, the actual work has not yet begun.

Ibrahim Ziyau, the Managing Director of BCC, told "One" yesterday that the garment factory construction work is currently on hold because there are difficulties in proceeding with the work on the land previously allocated to the corporation for the garment factory building.

He said that they have officially sent a letter requesting another plot of land for the garment factory construction because there are belongings of other parties on the land given for starting the work.

"The reason we couldn't start the work was because the land wasn't cleared. No official information has been shared. We don't accept the message being spread on X. We don't want to respond to that. We will respond to things that come in writing. However, nothing in writing has reached us yet," Ziyau said.

Ziyau further stated that the land is 30,000 square feet, and BCC has officially requested another plot of similar size from the Addu Council in a formal letter. However, even after six months, they haven't received a satisfactory response from the Addu Council, and they will start the garment factory work as soon as the land is settled.

"There won't be any indication or letter stating that the project will be halted. However, we have shared a letter with the Addu City Council requesting a change of land, asking for a different plot. The project will proceed in Addu," Ziyau said.

Ziyau also mentioned that BCC, established by the Economic Ministry to assist small and medium enterprises, has decided to entrust an international company with the task of developing the operational framework for planning and managing the garment factory in Addu, as well as coordinating the entire project.

An agreement between the council and BCC for leasing the land to build a garment factory was signed on June 9th of this year.

Addu City was a site where Sri Lankan companies operated garment factories in Gan, Addu City, years ago. The first garment factory in the city opened in early 1981. Although the factory was closed in 1994 due to some unrest, it reopened two years later in 1996.