Chinese company to invest Rs. 200 m on charcoal factory
Harshini PERERA
A Chinese company under the guidance of the Chinese Government has
shown an interest on investing in a large charcoal factory in Sri Lanka
in the Southern province.
The investment for the project is Rs. 200 million and it is located
out of the coconut Triangle, Chairman, Coconut Development Authority (CDA),
Keerthi Sri Weerasinghe told Daily News Business.
Sri Lanka can compete with other countries such as Vietnam, China,
Indonesia and India to produce coconuts, if there is a proper mechanism
to collect coconut shells that are otherwise discarded, he said.
There is a demand for activated-carbon produced by Sri Lanka from
many foreign countries and Sri Lanka has been unable to cater to that
demand. Sri Lanka produces only 25-30 percent activated carbon out of
the total coconut production and 70 percent is wasted. Coconut shells
are neither used at the household level nor collected properly and the
Coconut Development Authority (CDA) has taken steps to collect the
coconut shells that are not used properly.
Sri Lanka’s charcoal fetches high prices in the world market since
they are used for water-purification and air-purification in various
countries in Europe. If this system is found to be efficient, Sri Lanka
can produce a large volume of charcoal to the world market, he said.
The CDA acts as the governing body to form a network system in
collecting coconut shells. He said that those interested should register
as collectors for coconut shells and they will be provided with the
infrastructure and other facilities.
The CDA has already received 1, 500 applications.
It is expected to increase the collection of coconut shells to 100
million tons a month - 1, 200 million a year. Two-thousand million tons
of coconut shells will be otherwise wasted annually. The registered
collectors will be facilitated with technology and other facilities such
as storage and sacks.
At a glance
 * Rs. 200 million charcoal factory for Southern
province
* Sri Lanka produces only 25-30 percent of
activated carbon
* Collection to be increased to 100 m tons per
month
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