Govt approves further amendments to plantation estate act

Aug 16, 2017 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's cabinet of ministers has approved to further amend the tea, rubber and coconut estates (Control of fragmentation) Act No.2 of 1958. Under the above act, for fragmentation or transfer of a coconut estate larger than 04 hectares and tea, and rubber estates larger than 20 hectares, a certificate of consent should be obtained from the tea, rubber and coconut estates (Control of fragmentation) Board. "It is a timely need to be flexible in this law for using such lands to large scale development projects," the cabinet decisions statement said. "Accordingly, it was decided to reduce the above limitations as 02 hectares (05 acres) for coconut lands and 08 hectares (20 acres) for tea and rubber estates, by amending the above act." The proposal was made by the plantation Industries Minister Navin Dissanayake. The cabinet also approved another proposal of Dissanayake to provide allocation of 730 million rupees from the general treasury for 10 projects. The projects proposed will be implemented by Rubber Research Institute, Coconut Cultivation Board, National Institute of Plantation Management and Thurusaviya Fund under the supervision of the Ministry of Plantation Industries.