Aug 26, Colombo: Sri Lanka is preparing to implement a national policy on appropriation of land in the country.

The Deputy Director of Planning of Land Policies at the Ministry of Land and Land Development, D.A. Jayananda says unsystematic land utilization has created many environmental problems in Sri Lanka and reduced the productivity of many lands cultivated with tea, coconut, rubber or any other cash crops significantly.

Experts point out that a national land policy for Sri Lanka has been long overdue and that haphazard allocation of state lands without proper and systematic land use planning has caused enormous damage to the land base of the country and consequently to the environment.