Idle impregnation plant at STC to be commissioned after six years

by L. S. A. Wedaarachchi

The creosote pressure impregnation plant imported in 2001 with overgrown shrubs. The salvaged plant to be commissioned on Wednesday.

The imported creosote pressure impregnation plant which was languishing for more than six years at the Keppetipola State Timber Corporation (STC) site, will be commissioned next week.

The plant and machinery worth over Rs. 2 million was imported from India in 2001 by the then STC authorities to expand the Keppetipola timber impregnation activities. Due to the change of government, the Keppetipola expansion project did not see the light of day although the STC was one of the public sector corporations earmarked for privatisation.

In 2006 the STC Chairman S. A. Premaratna, an attorney-at-law took steps to make an investment to develop the corporation and improve the Keppetipola, Boosa, and Kaldemulla timber sites as timber complexes. The aim was to improve the market share of sawn timber and expedite the production of electric transmission timber polls and sleepers.

Under the Keppetipola timber complex project it was decided to instal the creosote pressure impregnation plant which has a capacity of producing 80-120 transmission polls. The plant was covered by thick shrubs at that time. The estimates given by private and public sector organisations quoted over Rs. 70 million for the Keppetipola project, later it was handed over to the engineering division of the STC.

The installation of the creosote pressure impregnation plant, construction of the treatment plant buildings, electrical installation and road network at the site has now been completed successfully by the engineering division at a cost of Rs. 4 million.

The STC Chairman said that the STC is embarking on a new era where the latest technology and mechanisation takes priority. Under the vast development in the fields of railway and electricity, the STC must also be geared to meet the demand for preserved electricity transmission timber polls and sleepers, he said.

The construction and development activities of the Keppetipola timber complex and the Boosa and Kaldemulla timber sites commenced last year. The 39th anniversary of the STC falls on April 4. The commissioning of the Keppetipola project has also been scheduled for this date to mark the 39th anniversary.

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