Tripartite committee to increase profits of 13 factories

A tripartite committee has been appointed to increase the profits of 13 tea factories that belong to the Tea Shakthi Fund(TSF) by increasing productivity.

The committee is headed by Jerry Galahitiyawa while the other two members are Chief Factory Manager TSF K.B. Etipola and former Estate Superintendent S.M. Usman. The committee was appointed by Plantation Industries Minister D.M. Jayaratne.

The committee will have to submit their observations within two weeks on the quality of the produced tea, whether the tea production is in keeping with the capacity of the machinery and the quantity of refuse tea in each factory while the current issues prevailing in the factories will also be studied by this committee.

According to a spokesman for the ministry out of the 13 factories functioning under the TSF 10 factories earned a profit of Rs 74 mln during the past nine months while Balangoda, Gilimale and Pansalthenne remain unprofitable. Some of the factories which earned high profits are Mahaweli tea factory at Nawalapitiya Rs 18 mln, Raigam Korale Tea factory Rs 12 mln, Walahanduwa tea factory Rs 10mln, Deniyaya Tea factory Rs 12 mln and Passara Tea Factory Rs 10mln.

Minister Jayaratne said that most of the factories have exceeded their maximum production capacity.