Plantations seek out investors
View(s):Loss-making plantations are being eyed for foreign investments to carry out projects on these to make them viable and profit-making.
It is learnt that the Janatha Estate Development Board (JEDB) and the Sri Lanka State Plantations Corporation (SLSPC) plantations which have long been loss-making assets are now being considered for foreign investment projects on their plantations by the government, a ministry official told the Business Times on Wednesday.
The government intends to bring in the foreign investors to initiate various businesses on available lands on the plantations held by these two state institutions, the official said.
Meanwhile, trade unions allege that the government has already invited foreign Indian investors to invest in these plantations.
They believe that since the private sector run Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs) are not willing to part with their investments, the government will now be considering the state plantations.
The plantation industry has been at the receiving end of a number of issues as the government backed up trade unions in obtaining a higher pay for daily wage earners on the plantations. But this matter has currently gone to court where the employers state that they will be unable to pay this high wage rise.