Govt. says plan to lease NLDB and Milco to India’s Amul scrapped

Thursday, 19 December 2024 03:32 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Namal Karunaratne

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Namal Karunaratne assured Parliament yesterday that the Government has not decided to move forward with the previous administration’s proposal to lease farms and milk distribution centres owned by the National Livestock Development Board (NLDB) and Milco Ltd. to India’s Amul Milk Cooperative.

The assurance came in response to a question raised by Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Hesha Withanage.

“The previous Government attempted to hand over all NLDB farms and the Milco company to Amul and another local company, a move strongly opposed by the Farmers’ Federation, which fought hard against it. As someone who was directly involved in these efforts, I can confirm our stance on this matter. The plan to award these assets to a low bidder has been halted, and none of them will be handed over to the proposed entities,” he said.

The Minister said the facilities require development, and talks are ongoing to explore the involvement of local investors and entrepreneurs. “However, I can guarantee that no decision has been reached to hand over these assets to foreign companies,” he noted.

In July this year, former President Ranil Wickremesinghe and former Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Amaraweera jointly submitted a Cabinet paper proposing to lease farms owned by Milco and NLDB to India’s Amul milk cooperative on a long-term basis.

The proposal outlined leasing Milco and NLDB farms to Amul for a period of 99 years. As part of the plan, an assessment valued Milco and NLDB assets at Rs. 90 billion, while the Highland brand name was valued at Rs. 2 billion.

The venture was to see Amul holding a 52% stake and Sri Lankan stakeholders owning 48%, under the terms of the 99-year lease agreement.