STATE PLANTATION CORPORATIONS STEEPED IN DEBT

Three plantation corporations coming under the state have recorded debts exceeding Rs. 3 billion.

The corporations facing the crisis are the Janatha Estates Development Board, State Plantation Corporation and the Elkaduwa Plantation Company, and the amount in debt includes arrears of payments to employees.

The Plantations Ministry has decided to permit the corporations to fell trees in their lands and sell them to the State Timber Corporation (STC) to re- gain funds to settle the debts.

The STC would in turn sell the timber to the Electricity Board as electrical posts and the Railway Department as railway sleepers. The income derived from this would be used to settle arrears of payments to employees and to bank loans.

A cabinet paper to this effect has been submitted for approval by Minister of State Resources and Entrepreneur Development Dayashritha Thissera, Minister of Environment and Renewable Energy Susil Premajayantha and Minister of Labour Gamini Lokuge.

The Janatha Estates Development Board reportedly has to pay Rs. 552 million as EPF to its employees, Rs. 23 million as ETF dues and Rs. 310 million as gratuity payments, totalling Rs. 885 million, while the State Plantation Corporation owes the EPF Rs. 480 million, ETF Rs. 29 Million and Rs. 155 million as gratuity payments for employees, totalling Rs. 664 million.