Srilanka, Feb. 2 -- Investors having to wait for 'donkey's years' to get approval for projects from several state institutions is ridiculous, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake told guests at the 24th Economic Summit organised by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce in Colombo last week.

"Approval for projects have to be sought from around 80 state bodies at times and by the time the project is approved it has taken about two to two-and-a-half years which no investor would tolerate," the President said.

There has been much hype over the years to make the Board of Investments (BoI), the state body responsible for promotion of investments to the country, a one-stop-shop, streamlining the approval process for projects to minimise the time taken ...