Lanka Salt Ltd, Hambantota will be making a sizable diversion to the energy and tourism sectors soon.
Chairman Lanka Salt, Chaminda Sooriyapatabendhi said that though the company made a historic turnover of more than Rs. 1.4 billion for the first quarter ending March 31, 2023 (with an expected profit of around Rs. 500 million) they need alternative income generating projects.”
“This is because the salt industry is highly dependent on good weather conditions and when there is bad weather it has a negative impact on our bottom line. Hence the management has now decided to diversify. Due to good weather conditions our production increased from around 60,000 Mt tons per year in 2020 to around 110,000 Mt tons last year.”
He said that they have a huge tourism asset in which there are two fully furnished Tree Houses at Bundala Slatern along with a circuit bungalow. “We hope to refurbish this and give it out to a travel company to manage and market this.”
Engineer Dr Ajith Shanmuganathan said that they are looking to build a 55 megawatt wind power plant soon as a private public partnership initiative.
“Firstly, this will result in the company having a zero electricity bill and secondly it will generate profits as we hope to sell electricity to the national grid.”
He said that they also hope to have a battery storage system so that they could release energy to the national grid during peak hours generating a higher income. “We will soon call for proposals to find a suitable investor for this.”
He also said that they are also planning to build concrete roof cover over extracted salt dumps and install solar panels on top of them which too would generate alternative power. Director Lanka Salt, Dinuka Chamara De Silva said that they are also investing around Rs. 450 million to build a Pure Vacuum Dried Salt plant (PVD) in Palatupana and this would be opened at the end of the year.
“While supplying PVD salt to local industries, hotels and resentments and pharmaceutical sector and homes we are also planning to export to Japan and Canada. This would be the first time that salt would be exported.”
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