UK-based investor links up with an Indian firm to revive Kantale sugar factory

A UK-based investor has linked up with an Indian company to revive and restructure Sri Lanka’s state owned Kantale sugar factory with an investment of Rs.13 .5 billion (US$110 million) after it was shut down for over 25 years.

Mendel Gluck, a UK based investor, is the leading investor of the project backed by Shri Prabulingeshwar Sugars and Chemicals Ltd of Bangalore, India, Chairman of the Board of Investment (BOI) Upul Jayasuriya said in Colombo on Tuesday at the signing of the investment agreement.

He said that the total sum of Rs. 13.5 billion will be foreign investment and no local bank borrowings for the implementation of the project.

Around 30,000 villagers in Kantale will be benefited from the re-starting of the sugar factory, he said, adding that around 6,000 direct and indirect employment opportunities will be created for youth in the area.

Minister of Lands M.K.D.S. Gunewardene said the Kantale sugar enterprise covers about 21,000 acres and there were 18 small lakes which could be used to store and supply water for the project.

The Indian company which is an experienced group of companies engaged in sugar cane cultivation, sugar manufacturing, cogeneration of power plants and dairy industry will be the technical partner for the project.

The Kantale sugar factory was constructed in 1957 as a grant offered to the country during the tenure of former Prime Minister, the late S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike by the government of Czechoslovakia and it was opened in 1960. It had been smoothly functioning as a profit earning venture until 1986 and thereafter it was closed down due to heavy losses.