Gas discovery could bring down fertilizer cost - minister

Since natural gas is the basic raw material used in the manufacture of fertilizer, the country will be able to produce fertilizer at a low cost in future and effect a major saving on the Rs 4,000 million spent on the fertilizer subsidy, Petroleum Industries Minister Susil Premajayantha said at a meeting held at Obeysekarepura Rajagiriya on Tuesday.

Minister Premajayantha said that since initial explorations have detected natural gas deposits in our ocean bed, the government would be able to provide great relief to the country by utilizing it for production purposes in the next three to four years.

He said the distance a vehicle travels today with a litre of petrol costing Rs 125 could be covered at a cost of Rs 50 by utilizing natural gas. He said this could be further reduced if we used our own natural gas. The minister also said natural gas had many advantages as it could be used for electricity production, domestic chores and transport too.

Minister Premajayantha said the government had carpeted and developed 22 roads in Kotte allocating Rs 220 million, the biggest allocation made in Kotte history. The Kotte MC area is marching towards rapid development under the UPFA government.

The UNP has become rudderless without a proper leadership in Kotte.

The UNP leader accused the government of removing shanties in Colombo. But the UPFA's aim was to provide decent houses to the shanty dwellers by removing their horrid shanties restricted to a 10 cubic foot area and jam packed with people.