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The selection of a location for a manufacturing plant is a foremost decision which has to be made by an industry. This decision is influenced by numerous location determinants such as raw materials, transport labor, utility and infrastructure, etc. Elevated magnitudes of the exerting powers and the collective effects of different location determinants in a particular locality create economic agglomeration and it generates numerous positive and some negative externalities in their economies. Even if the number is less, the influences are more awful with the negative externalities. Western Province of Sri Lanka is also experiencing this.
Therefore, any plan introduce to the region should crop up with effective planning activities
to achieve the expected industrial development. At present, a development project named
“Western Region Megapolis Project” (WRMPP) which hopes to complete in 2030 and
estimated to spend 40 billion US$, is at the planning stage. With this, two industrial cities
will be developed in Horana and Meeerigama. Thus, it is very much important to find the
major location determinants and to investigate whether this project is compatible with them,
at this planning stage of it.
Hence, this study was carried out to diagnose the major determinants of industrial location
in the Western Province of Sri Lanka and then to investigate whether the WRMPP is
compatible with those. For that, the district of Colombo which shows the highest industrial
agglomeration was selected as the case study area. Considering different types of industries,
disproportionate stratified sampling method was used to select the sample. After reviewing
the literature, a number of determinants were identified and a questionnaire was prepared by
including those. Questionnaire and Key Informant Interviews were used to collect the
primary data from the representatives of the selected industries and the relevant
organizations. A Frequency Distribution Analysis was conducted to identify the key
determinants of industrial location. Then a context analysis was conducted to investigate the
compatibility of the project with those major location determinants.
According to the results; utilities/ infrastructure, market, transportation and quality of life
were identified as the major determinants. Existing and the planned developments for the
two industrial cities at Horana and Meerigama under the WRMPP were considerably
compatible with most of the sub factors of the major location determinants, but according to
the available facts, some factors belong to utilities/ infrastructure such as the attitudes of the
utility agents and the cost of fuel, some factors belong to transportation such as water way
transportation in the industrial area and some sub factors belong to the marketing facilities
such as income trends, consumer characteristics, location of competitors, etc. have not been
considered. Therefore, it is impossible to state that the WRMPP is highly compatible with
the major location determinants of the industries in the Western Region of Sri Lanka. To
obtain more precise results, further studies should be carried out by increasing the sample
size and the number of determinants or by sub dividing the major determinants and also
assessing the compatibility of the WRMPP after completing the project. |
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