State’s Elkaduwa, Chilaw and Kurunegala on the way to recovery
View(s):After getting Cabinet approval for restructuring state owned plantation companies, Elkaduwa, Chilaw and Kurunegala Plantations have all turned around, Public Enterprise Ministry sources said.
“There’s so much more to be done, but we managed to slash costs, bring in efficiency and give certain lands at these plantations for small projects,” a source told the Business Times noting that this has made the three plantations turn around.
“The others have lots of issues and at the moment we are trying to maximise productivity and make them efficient and we want to go for multiple partnerships. The positive side is that there has been huge interest from foreigners and locals, big companies, wanting to take over parts of the companies and do various projects. Some of them are multi-cropping projects, some are to improve tea and rubber that is already there, some are eco-tourism projects and dairy farming.
We think we can have a good arrangement where the State could become partner in some cases and in others lease out the land. We believe all this land can be productively used. Some of the land will be distributed among the people on an out-grower basis for small-holders,” the source said. He said these plantations will go public in about a year. “With profits they can go public.”