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| Tuesday, 27 May 2003 |
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Action to re-start tea factories under way By Chamitha Kuruppu Immediate measures will be taken by the Ministry of Plantation Industry to re-start tea factories affected by floods in low grown tea producing districts. Minister of Plantation Industries Lakshman Kiriella told the Daily News yesterday that instructions were given to ministry officials to prepare a special report assessing damage caused to these factories by bad weather conditions. The Minister has instructed the officials to submit the report by today 'the latest'. "Once we get all the information, measures will be taken to reconstruct all the tea factories, which are badly damaged and closed at present". Kiriella said that he will submit a Cabinet Paper shortly in order to obtain special financial aid to recommence construction work. We have requested factory owners to work out the amount of money they need to recommence work, Kiriella said. Minister Kiriella paid a special visit to Galle last Friday to see the damage caused by floods. Most factory owners said that they if electricity is provided they could commence operations immediately. " If electricity cannot be provided they can give us fuel to operate the generators," they said. President of the Private Tea Factory Owners Association Sarath Samaraweera said that no factory was completely damaged. " Factories were under water for a number of days and as a result a large bulk of tea was destroyed," he said. He said that the government should focus on implementing infrastructure facilities such as electricity and roads destroyed by bad weather. The Asia Siyanka weekly tea update reported that torrential and strong winds that led to the worst flooding in many parts of the country caused extensive damage to low growing areas that account for nearly 55% of the country's production. Most of the tea is in the hands of smallholders whose plots are on average less than an acre of land. The worst hit have been the tea growing regions of Ruhuna and Sabaragamuwa which include the prime districts of Galle, Matara, Deniyaya and Ratnapura among others. Many main roads are under water. But it is likely that the situation would improve in the immediate short-term. The issue however, is that many by-roads are impassable due to earthslips, damage to culverts and small bridges with some parts of roadways being completely washed away. As a result many factories have been cut off, the report said. |
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