Kantale Sugar Factory to become museum

06 Jan 2021

Kantale Sugar Factory to become museum

06 Jan 2021

By Dinitha Rathnayake The Kantale Sugar Factory, a project which decades ago facilitated 50,000 direct, indirect, and temporary jobs and was a huge money spinner for the Government, will be converted into a museum, The Morning learns. Speaking to The Morning yesterday (5), the State Minister of the Development of Sugarcane, Maize, Cashew, Pepper, Cinnamon, Cloves, and Betel Production, and the Promotion of Allied Products and Export, Janaka Wakkumbura said that the Government took this decision because the building is in a dilapidated condition. “All the machinery and the buildings are too old to have good production value.” The factory, one of the biggest factory complexes owned by Sri Lanka, has been closed for 30 years and is surrounded by thick jungle and filled with damaged vehicles, machines, and closed down buildings. The factory was gifted by Czechoslovakia in the 1960s and managed to earn profits for the Government till the 1990s. However, in 1993, it was vested with a private company and suffered closure by the end of 1999. Although the factory was reacquired by the Government subsequently, it did not begin production. However, the Government is set to build a new factory adjoining the old factory, with a sugarcane plant nursery of over 500 acres, and restart operations this year. “We are focusing on new technology where we expect to produce around 20,000 metric tonnes from the plant. The current cost of importing sugar is around Rs. 46 billion, therefore we will try to reduce it by having this plant,” said Wakkumbura. According to him, the new factory will create 800 direct job opportunities and provide relief for around 5,000 farming families in the Kantale area, as it would create indirect job opportunities for them. “We are in the process of having a proper discussion with the company who signed an agreement with the previous United National Front (UNF)-led Government. The current Government does not want to sell any public property,” Wakkumbura added. However, speaking to The Morning, Association to Protect the Kantale Sugar Factory Convener Indika Paranavitharana said that this sugar factory had become an election trump card which politicians used every year to garner votes. “This factory was used as an election canard to trick the youths. Electoral candidates turned this factory into a prospective job bank and promised youths that they will start this factory and give them jobs, but this never materialised,” Paranavitharana further added. According to Paranavitharana, Eastern Province Governor Anuradha Yahampath had also visited the Kantale Sugar Factory for an inspection in December 2019 and promised to re-open the sugar factory for production under a new investor within three months. However, this too had not come to pass. When contacted by The Morning, Yahampath claimed that the Government is already in the process of restarting the factory but that due to complications that had arisen regarding the agreement signed by the UNF-led Government and the relevant private company, the current Government had to conduct lengthy discussions on this matter. “However, we are in the process of turning the coin to our side and starting operations with a new investor from Sri Lanka,” she said.

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Kantale Sugar Factory to become museum

Kantale Sugar Factory to become museum

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