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Treasury yet to oil CPC’s lubricant plant
The Petroleum Industries Ministry’s move to set up a lubricant mixing plant with investments from Malaysia has been delayed as the Treasury is yet to grant approval for the project, officials said. Petroleum Industries Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa told the Sunday Times the plant was to be set up on a 20-year Build-Operate-and-Transfer (BOT) basis, but he was yet to receive a response to the proposal. In August, a five-acre land was set aside for the project in Muturajawela, off Wattala.
A senior official of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) said the plant would enable the corporation to compete with the private sector, sell lubricants at a lower price and increase the CPC’s market share in this sector to 26 per cent. Currently the CPC imports the finished products from Malaysia and supplies them to the local market.
“Earlier it was proposed that the CPC set up a joint venture, but the Attorney General’s Department had held that the CPC cannot enter into a joint venture. Thereafter Cabinet approval was granted to establish the plant under the BOT system, but still no approval has been given,” the official said.
CPC Marketing Manager Chaminda Samarakoon said that in view of the delay, they had obtained government approval to import lubricants until the plant was set up.
He said if the plant was set up, Sri Lanka could reduce the import of lubricant products.