Port City Colombo Crowned Asia-Pacific’s Premier Knowledge Zone

COLOMBO (News 1st); Port City Colombo (PCC) has been crowned the Best Knowledge Zone in Asia-Pacific in the prestigious FDI Intelligence Global Free Zones of the Year 2025 awards, marking a major milestone for Sri Lanka’s flagship smart city project.

Built on 269 hectares of reclaimed land off the coast of Colombo and granted special economic zone status in 2021, PCC has emerged as a magnet for service-sector investment despite Sri Lanka’s recent economic turbulence. 

Among the latest developments is an agreement signed in May 2025 by IGT 1 Lanka, a subsidiary of Sweden-based IGT Holding AB, a global provider of software and business process outsourcing services. 

The judging panel commended PCC’s investor-friendly framework, which includes zero personal income tax for expatriate employees, tax exemptions for developers and investing companies, and the appointment of the International Alternative Dispute Resolution Centre to ensure legal certainty and streamlined conflict resolution.

This accolade comes amid a global shift in foreign direct investment (FDI) trends. 

Data from FDI Markets reveals that in 2024, nearly 50% of all FDI projects in free zones targeted software, IT, and business and financial services, a sharp rise from 18% a decade ago. 

Free zones worldwide have evolved to capture this surge in service-sector investment, and PCC’s success reflects Sri Lanka’s ambition to position itself at the forefront