Home
Register
ECONOMYNEXT- Errant Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs) in Sri Lanka need to be punished under new reforms to be brought in the future, Plantations Minister Navin Dissanayake said, while estates stil under the state are eating up hundreds of millions of rupees in tax money.
"Unfortunately, RPC reforms could not be done while I was in office," Dissanayake said at the Annual General Meeting of the Colombo Tea Traders' Association, which celebrated its 125th anniversary.
He said that the ministry had graded all 24 RPCs according to their tea making practices as A, B and C.
"Most RPCs were in the A and B groups, but some were in C; those that broke rules," Dissanayake said.
"Unfortunately for me, there is no way to penalize them. There is a lacuna there."
"Hopefully in the future, we can look at this," he said.
Dissanayake said that reforms need a consensus form the industry and cannot be implemented top down by one policy maker.
However, he also said that the tea industry is highly regulated and requires deregulation in certain areas, which the industry must also collectively decide upon.
Sri Lanka's RPCs have 50-year leases to tea land and the government is the golden shareholder, with veto powers.
Tea is Sri Lanka's second largest merchandize export, earning 1.4 billion US dollars in 2018.
Two plantation companies in state hands including Elkaduwa Plantations are making losses in the hands to the state and are propped up with peoples' tax money.
"Unfortunately, RPC reforms could not be done while I was in office," Dissanayake said at the Annual General Meeting of the Colombo Tea Traders' Association, which celebrated its 125th anniversary.
He said that the ministry had graded all 24 RPCs according to their tea making practices as A, B and C.
"Most RPCs were in the A and B groups, but some were in C; those that broke rules," Dissanayake said.
"Unfortunately for me, there is no way to penalize them. There is a lacuna there."
"Hopefully in the future, we can look at this," he said.
Dissanayake said that reforms need a consensus form the industry and cannot be implemented top down by one policy maker.
However, he also said that the tea industry is highly regulated and requires deregulation in certain areas, which the industry must also collectively decide upon.
Sri Lanka's RPCs have 50-year leases to tea land and the government is the golden shareholder, with veto powers.
Tea is Sri Lanka's second largest merchandize export, earning 1.4 billion US dollars in 2018.
Two plantation companies in state hands including Elkaduwa Plantations are making losses in the hands to the state and are propped up with peoples' tax money.
» CCS.N0000 ( Ceylon Cold Stores)
» Sri Lanka plans to allow tourists from August, no mandatory quarantine
» When Will It Be Safe To Invest In The Stock Market Again?
» Dividend Announcements
» MAINTENANCE NOTICE / නඩත්තු දැනුම්දීම
» ඩොලර් මිලියනයක මුදල් සම්මානයක් සහ “ෆීල්ඩ්ස් පදක්කම” පිළිගැනීම ප්රතික්ෂේප කළ ගණිතඥයා
» SEYB.N0000 (Seylan Bank PLC)
» Here's what blind prophet Baba Vanga predicted for 2016 and beyond: It's not good
» The Korean Way !
» In the Meantime Within Our Shores!
» What is Known as Dementia?
» SRI LANKA TELECOM PLC (SLTL.N0000)
» THE LANKA HOSPITALS CORPORATION PLC (LHCL.N0000)
» Equinox ( වසන්ත විෂුවය ) !
» COMB.N0000 (Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC)
» REXP.N0000 (Richard Pieris Exports PLC)
» RICH.N0000 (Richard Pieris and Company PLC)
» Do You Have Computer Vision Syndrome?
» LAXAPANA BATTERIES PLC (LITE.N0000)
» What a Bank Run ?
» 104 Technical trading experiments by HUNTER
» GLAS.N0000 (Piramal Glass Ceylon PLC)
» Cboe Volatility Index
» AHPL.N0000
» TJL.N0000 (Tee Jey Lanka PLC.)
» CTBL.N0000 ( CEYLON TEA BROKERS PLC)
» COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT COMPANY PLC (COMD. N.0000))
» Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency
» CSD.N0000 (Seylan Developments PLC)
» PLC.N0000 (People's Leasing and Finance PLC)
» Bakery Products ?
» NTB.N0000 (Nations Trust Bank PLC)
» Going South
» When Seagulls Follow the Trawler
» Re-activating
» අපි තමයි හොඳටම කරේ !
» මේ අර් බුධය කිසිසේත්ම මා විසින් නිර්මාණය කල එකක් නොවේ
» SAMP.N0000 (Sampath Bank PLC)
» APLA.N0000 (ACL Plastics PLC)
» AVOID FALLING INTO ALLURING WEEKEND FAMILY PACKAGES.
» Banks, Finance & Insurance Sector Chart
» VPEL.N0000 (Vallibel Power Erathna PLC)
» DEADLY COCKTAIL OF ISLAND MENTALITY AND PARANOID PERSONALITY DISORDER MIX.
» WATA - Watawala
» KFP.N0000(Keels Food Products PLC)
» Capital Trust Broker in difficulty?
» IS PIRATING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY A BOON OR BANE?
» What Industry Would You Choose to Focus?
» Should I Stick Around, or Should I Follow Others' Lead?