The Eppawala-based Lanka Phosphate Company has commissioned Rs. 110 million worth of new operational vehicles and machinery in a move to lift production capacity.
The equipment was brought into service on Thursday at an event held under the patronage of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development Minister Sunil Handunnetti.
What was bought
The purchase covers three categories:
- Two wheel loaders — Rs. 79 million
- Two tipper trucks — Rs. 18 million
- Two forklifts — Rs. 13 million
The three line items sum exactly to the Rs. 110 million headline figure.
Letters of appointment were also handed to newly selected drivers at the same event, as part of what the company described as strengthening its operations.
The company
Lanka Phosphate Ltd is a state-owned enterprise under the Ministry of Industries. It excavates, processes and sells rock phosphate from the Eppawala deposit in the Anuradhapura district, marketing two grades — Eppawala Rock Phosphate and High-Grade Eppawala Rock Phosphate — used as phosphate fertiliser for perennial crops.
The Eppawala deposit is Sri Lanka’s only significant domestic source of phosphate rock, making the company the main local substitute for imported phosphate fertiliser.
Neither the company nor the ministry published a target for the additional output the new machinery is expected to deliver, or the timeframe over which it would be achieved.
Hiru News reported the investment in Sinhala. No verified English-language Sri Lankan newsroom had filed its own report as of Friday night, and the figures above are drawn from Hiru’s account.
