By Dinitha RathnayakeThe Kantale Sugar Factory, a project which decades ago facilitated 50,000 direct, indirect, and temporary jobs and was a huge money spinner for the Government, will be converted into a museum, The Morning learns. The factory was gifted by Czechoslovakia in the 1960s and managed to earn profits for the Government till the 1990s. However, the Government is set to build a new factory adjoining the old factory, with a sugarcane plant nursery of over 500 acres, and restart operations this year. However, speaking to The Morning, Association to Protect the Kantale Sugar Factory Convener Indika Paranavitharana said that this sugar factory had become an election trump card which politicians used every year to garner votes. According to Paranavitharana, Eastern Province Governor Anuradha Yahampath had also visited the Kantale Sugar Factory for an inspection in December 2019 and promised to re-open the sugar factory for production under a new investor within three months.

Source: The Nation January 05, 2021 22:18 UTC