The Hon. Namal Karunaratne - Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Livestock
On behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation, the Deputy Minister tabled a written answer detailing LRC lands in Galle District allocated for industrial purposes as at 20 August 2025, including rubber, garment, livestock, vehicle-spare-parts, fertilizer, tea, footwear and industrial estate projects. The answer stated that all listed projects are operational except the Bettans Group footwear manufacturing enterprise. It explained that the Bettans land had been taken back for use as a Covid Centre, causing possession issues, and that arrangements have since been made to re-transfer possession to the applicant.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation, I table the answer to the question.
¶ 02 Answer tabled:
¶ 03 (a) (i) Yes.
¶ 04 (ii) The following LRC lands in Galle District have been allocated for industries, by Divisional Secretary’s Division, indicating the recipient and nature of industry (as at 20 August 2025):
¶ 05 - Akmeemana DS: - Samson Rubber Products (Pvt) Ltd — Rubber products factory - D. Samson Industries — Rubber products factory - Elpitiya DS: - Star Fashion Clothing (Pvt) Ltd — Garment factory - Sujeewa Farm House — Livestock farm - Deepa Garments (Pvt) Ltd — Garment factory - Baddegama DS: - Jo Lanka (Pvt) Ltd — Garment factory - Star Garments (Pvt) Ltd — Garment factory - Galle Four Gravets/Adjacent: - C/S Classic Cars (Pvt) Ltd — Production of spare parts for old vehicles (project) - Rathgama DS: - B. Lawrence de Silva — Organic liquid fertilizer production (project) - Industrial Estate: - Industrial Development Board — For an Industrial Estate - Kalubovitiyana/Tea: - Kalubovitiyana Tea Factory — Tea factory - Elpitiya/Footwear: - Bettans Group of Companies (Pvt) Ltd — Footwear manufacturing enterprise
¶ 06 (iii) The following are currently operational: - Samson Rubber Products (Pvt) Ltd — Rubber products factory - D. Samson Industries — Rubber products factory - Star Fashion Clothing (Pvt) Ltd — Garment factory - C/S Classic Cars (Pvt) Ltd — Project for spare parts for old vehicles - Sujeewa Farm House — Livestock farm - Deepa Garments (Pvt) Ltd — Garment factory - Industrial Development Board (Industrial Estate) — Industrial estate - Jo Lanka (Pvt) Ltd — Garment factory - Star Garments (Pvt) Ltd — Garment factory - Kalubovitiyana Tea Factory — Tea factory - B. Lawrence de Silva — Organic liquid fertilizer production (project)
¶ 07 (iv) Non-operational industry: - Bettans Group of Companies (Pvt) Ltd — Footwear manufacturing enterprise (see measures below)
¶ 08 (b) (v) Yes.
¶ 09 (vi) Bettans Group of Companies (Pvt) Ltd – The land was taken back from the project proponent due to it having been allocated for a Covid Centre. Subsequently, due to the failure of the relevant institutions to hand back possession to the applicant within the stipulated time, issues arose. After resolving the issue, arrangements have been made to re-transfer possession to the applicant.
¶ 10 Not applicable otherwise.
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Wednesday, 20 August 2025 ·No. 1756378373069107 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Namal Karunaratne - Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Livestock. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 20 August 2025. No. 1756378373069107. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/16118