The Hon. Wasantha Samarasinghe - Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development
The Minister said salt imports became necessary after weather-related damage reduced domestic production, noting that even opposition members had acknowledged rain-related losses. He stated that Hambantota salterns have a combined capacity of about 100,000 metric tons, but production fell from around 80,000 metric tons last year to about 60,000 metric tons this year. He added that any allegations of fraud or corruption are under investigation and that action would be taken if wrongdoing is found.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 It is true that even during the tsunami salt did not run out. But after 15 years we now have had to import due to weather damage; the data shows that. And even your side accepts rains caused losses. If there are allegations of fraud or corruption, investigations are underway and action will be taken. The combined capacity from Hambantota salterns is about 100,000 MT; last year they produced around 80,000 MT; this year it has dropped to about 60,000 MT due to rains. We have taken necessary decisions accordingly.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Wednesday, 21 May 2025 ·No. 1749121318003248 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Wasantha Samarasinghe - Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 21 May 2025. No. 1749121318003248. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/8119