Oct 15, Colombo: A controversy is taking place between Sri Lanka's Ministry of Food and Supplementary Crops Development and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources over the proposed project for cultivating 65,000 acres of sugarcane in Uva Wellassa region.

The Central Environment Authority (CEA) Chairman Udaya Gammanpila says that the CEA has denied approving the project due to the environmental sensitiveness such as the decline of soil-fertility. The CEA Chairman says that the company cannot proceed because there is no private land of that amount for it to acquire.

However, sources from the area say that the British company Booker Tate that is assigned to set up a factory in Bibile has already set up an office there aiming to proceed. The cabinet of Ministers has approved the project.

The government has ambitious plans to increase the local sugar production from a current 10% to 20%. Participating in a debate on the proposed project on July 17, the Minister of Supplementary Crops Development R.M. Dharmadasa Banda said that the government aimed at increasing the local production of sugar up to 50% of the consumption by setting up the sugar factories. He said that the annual consumption of sugar is 600,000 metric tons and the local production is only 56,000 metric tons.