The Hon. Chathuranga Abeysinghe
Eppawala rock phosphate was described as a national resource that cannot be used directly for short-term crops, requiring processing into Single Super Phosphate. The Government has obtained Cabinet approval in principle, addressed legal issues with Attorney-General guidance, and submitted a Cabinet Paper to call Expressions of Interest from the private sector for production. The stated objective is to reduce fertilizer imports and ensure public benefit from the deposit.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Member, this is indeed a national resource. The deposit was discovered in 1971. Eppawala rock phosphate cannot be directly used for Sri Lanka’s short-term crops. Based on research, the present Government obtained Cabinet approval in December to produce Single Super Phosphate. Since then, within the last few months, our officials, guided by the Attorney-General’s advice, cleared legal impediments. Accordingly, we are pleased to state that a Cabinet Paper has been submitted seeking approval to call Expressions of Interest to produce Single Super Phosphate using the deposit, reducing imported fertilizer and harnessing this national resource.
¶ 02 We expect to expedite this. We will ensure the people benefit from this deposit as anticipated. Cabinet approval to call private sector proposals is to be obtained in the coming weeks.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Wednesday, 23 July 2025 ·No. 1754386160089643 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Chathuranga Abeysinghe. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 23 July 2025. No. 1754386160089643. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/4093