The Hon. Susil Ranasinghe

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, on behalf of the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation, I provide the following answers.

¶ 02 (a) (i) Yes.

¶ 03 (ii) Compensation paid – Rs. 25,300,000.00 Interest – Rs. 12,321,110.00 Total – Rs. 37,621,110.00

¶ 04 (iii) Ministry of Agriculture and Lands.

¶ 05 (iv) Ministry of Agriculture and Lands.

¶ 06 (v) Pilot project for processing agricultural produce.

¶ 07 (vi) Yes. At the commencement of the C/S Hiriyala Farmers’ Company, according to the Divisional Secretary of Ganewatta, the Board of Investment spent Rs. 55,618,000 on buildings and infrastructure. The relevant letter is annexed and placed in the Library.

¶ 08 (b) (i) Yes. It has been given on a long-term lease for 30 years (mistakenly referred as part-time; it is a long-term lease) by the Department of the Commissioner General of Lands.

¶ 09 (ii) Rs. 304,000 per annum.

¶ 10 (iii) As per letter dated 2024.12.06 forwarded by the C/S Hiriyala Farmers’ Company to the Divisional Secretary, the Chairman is Ms. Manjula Disanayake.

¶ 11 (iv) Yes. The land has not been properly developed. Without the approval of the Commissioner General of Lands, it was subleased to Raigam (Wayamba) Cereals Ltd.

¶ 12 (v) The leased land too has not been properly developed and it has been unlawfully subleased to outside parties. Upon reports of breach of lease conditions, steps were taken to cancel the lease. During action to cancel, attention had to be paid to the fact that the lease right had been mortgaged to Lankaputra Bank and, due to non-repayment of the loan by C/S Hiriyala Farmers’ Company and a court-mediated settlement, as well as loss of government revenue from subleasing, recovery measures are being pursued.

¶ 13 With respect to the bank’s involvement, the lease was not immediately cancelled; instead, instructions were given to both the bank and the company, copying the Ganewatta Divisional Secretary, that if within six months the lease conditions are not complied with, action will be taken to cancel the lease.

¶ 14 (c) Not applicable.