Feb 11, Colombo: A foreign private university is to be set up in Sri Lanka's Gampaha District under the investment promotion agency, Board of Investment (BOI).

The University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) is to set up a branch university in a 120-acre land taken out on a 99-year lease at the Meerigama Export Processing Zone.

The total investment of the project is to be around US$ 100 million (around Rs.12 billion).

The agreement with the BOI had been signed by the university's Sri Lanka partner, UCLan Lanka (Private) Limited.

The agreement permits the Investment Promotion Ministry to grant a 15-year corporate income tax holiday after commercial operations begin and after this period, it will get a concessionary tax rate of 25 per cent for ten years.

Meanwhile, university students unions have expressed their objections to the move to establish a foreign private university.