Produce quality cement to control price - Welgama

by L. S. A. Wedaarachchi

The only solution to counter the ever increasing cement price which is sharply increasing in the world market due to the high demand, is to produce quality cement locally said Minister of Industrial Development, Kumara Welgama.

The only government owned cement factory in Kankesanturai (KKS) is now being occupied by the forces due to the prevailing security situation in Jaffna. The KKS factory which has the best cement raw material clinker mine should be put into operation for the benefit of the country, the Minister said.

He said that the situation in the North will definitely changed for the better within a few months.

Work at the KKS cement factory should resume in collaboration with local industrialist or foreign investors to cater to the country's need and control cement prices, he said.

Welgama said that no decision has been taken to handover the KKS cement factory to foreign or local investors. The Government's resources cannot be donated to foreign or local individuals or companies without following statutory procedures, he said.

Referring to the demand and the high price of cement, the Minister said that blackmarketers have created a situation due to the high demand for cement in the country.

Cement is not available at the controlled price of Rs. 692.50. But is freely available at over Rs. 700, he said. According to the Minister the Sri Lanka Cement Corporation and Lanka Cement Ltd., under to Ministry of Industrial Development had explored the possibility to import cement recently. It was not feasible to import cement as the freight cost from Indonesia and Malaysia is very high, he said.

He said that a plant will be set up in Trincomalee harbour to import and stock cement. The annual demand for cement in Sri Lanka is over 500,000 metric tons and it is increasing due to the construction boom in the country. The bagging plants and the cement produced locally meet only 40 per cent of the country's demand.