At the recently held Progress Review meeting of the Ministry of Public Enterprise Development chaired by the Minister Kabir Hashim, it was revealed that the Kurunegala Plantations Ltd has provided Rs. 35 million to the Treasury from their profit of Rs 155 million in 2015.
The company which mainly produces and processes coconut, rubber and varied interim crops owns 4971 hectares with its 08 estates located in various agro-climatic zones in Kurunegala, Gampaha and Anuradhapura districts.
The Chairman of the company Upali Piyasoma said that the company which was established in 1992 as a fully state owned company could make such profit by operating under the good governance with the guidance of Minister Hasim since September 2015.
Further, he stated that the profit for 2016 is now being calculated and it would be the most efficient year in company’s history.
Consequently, the coconut production, the main production of the company has been increased to 16.65 million nuts in 2016 from 14.06 million in 2015.
It is an 18% increase comparing to 2015. As well, the highest revenue of Rs. 61 lakhs earned from cashew nuts in the history has been recorded this year and it is a 201% increase comparing to 2015.
The pepper income of the year is Rs. 54 lakhs and it a 272% increase comparing to 2015. The company has also earned Rs. 61 lakhs of income from Rambutan. Further, the company has gained a significant increase from its other sources of income such as rubber sheet production, timber selling, and fruit plantations.
The Minister pointed out that the funds which were to be used for the welfare of the employees had to be used to maintain the institutions since they had been bankrupted with the interference of the former politicians of past governments.
He stated that the said success was able to be achieved by appointing skilled officers to manage those institutions and assign the responsibilities properly under the new economic program of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
The Minister further stated that the other plantations under MPED; Chilaw Plantations Ltd (CPL), Janatha Estate Development Board (JEDB), Sri Lanka State Plantation Corporation (SLSPC) and Elkaduwa Plantations Limited (EPL) have also achieved a great progress more than the previous years.
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