Sri Lanka’s Cabinet of Ministers has approved a proposal to release some underutilized lands and properties for investors for optimal investments, Cabinet Spokesman Nalinda Jayatissa said.

Sri Lanka possesses vast underutilized lands, primarily state-owned and held by state-owned companies like plantations, railways, and agrarian boards.

Underutilization stems from land fragmentation into uneconomic smallholdings, tenure insecurity, poor titles/documentation, absentee ownership, labour shortages, high input costs, lack of funding/equipment, marketing issues, and bureaucratic hurdles for release.

Cabinet Spokesman and Media Minister Jayatissa said action is being taken at present to dispose of the underutilized lands/properties identified under the stage one of the Sri Lanka State Plantation Corporation, the Janatha State Development Board, and the Elkaduwa Plantation Company.

“It has been observed that the underutilized lands/properties that are not included to the stage one, are remained under the relevant institutions,” he said.

Accordingly, the Cabinet has decided to allow some more lands and properties on a lease basis to the suitable investors for optimal utilization.

These lands include underutilized properties identified under the stage two owned by the Sri Lanka State Plantation Corporation, the Janatha State Development Board, and the Elkaduwa Plantation Company.

It also includes 40.48 hectares in Mawarala watte land and the Tea factory  located in Matara District belonging to the Tea Shakthi Fund and 1,541 hectares underutilized land in Kondachchi Estate which is under the Sri Lanka Cashew Corporation. 

Source -ECONOMYNEXT