President Ranil Wickramasinghe and Minister of Agriculture – Mahinda Amaraweera, have submitted a joint cabinet paper to hand over farms owned by Milco and the National Livestock Development Board (NLDB) to India’s Amul milk cooperative on a long-term lease basis, the ‘Aruna’ newspaper reports.
The newspaper further adds :
During President Wickremesinghe’s recent visit to India, the Indian Prime Minister – Narendra Modi had pledged their support to develop the Sri lankan dairy industry.
Accordingly, the farms of Milco and NLDB are to be leased to Amul for a period of 99 years.
Also, an assessment for the Milco and NLDB have been made at Rs. 90 bn. while the value of the brand name Highland has been assessed as Rs. 02 bn.
In addition, a separate assessment is to be made over the equipment of the NLDB.
The venture, which will see Amul owning a 52% stake and the Sri Lankan stakeholders owning 48%, will seek to promote the local dairy industry, subject to a 99-year lease agreement.
The companies have also informed the government that they will secure the jobs of the employees currently working. The government has also planned to provide a high VRS to Milco employees should they volunteer to retire.
Minister of Agriculture – Mahinda Amaraweera has said that Amul is unable to export dairy products to Sri Lanka for sale.
In addition, although India has stopped exporting dairy cows to other countries, it is to make an exception for Sri Lanka.
The land with the Narahenpita factory owned by Milco is to be taken over by the Urban Development Authority while Milco’s main factory is to be shifted to Badalgama.
(Source – Aruna)
