After several years in the doldrums, the Valachchenai and Embilipitiya National Paper Mills are expected to roar back to life as a public private partnership with a grant of US $ 20 million from South Korea.
The Valachchenai and Embilipitiya Paper Mills which had been a boon to thousands of families in the Eastern and Sabaragamuwa Provinces, became a bane with the closure of these factories as a result of various corrupt activities and a lack of political will to clean it up, thus forcing thousands of employees to become destitute and unemployed. Their lives became miserable as they lost their livelihood.
The families who were dependent on these factories are now struggling for their survival and the former employees who were earning a substantial salary from the mills are now involved in petty jobs to make ends meet.
The initiatives taken by the national unity government headed by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to revive these national assets, have offered a chance to those who were dependent on these industries bringing new hope to the workers and their families.
German technical support for paper mills
Director of Yesvee Industries M Vijayakumar , Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan, Managing Director of Yasvee Industries S. Palaniappan and former competent authority of Valachchenai National Paper Mill Mangala Senarath.
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The Valachchenai Paper Mill is expected to resume full production in the third quarter of next year after a complete modification drive led by tremendous efforts taken by the former Competent Authority of Valachchenai National Paper Mill, Mangala Senarath.
According to Senarath, the Voith company in Germany and its South Asian agent Yesvee company based in Coimbatore, will provide technical assistance to revamp the paper mills under a new initiative.
This long overdue project has received the blessings of subject Minister Rishad Bathiudeen, State Minister Champika Premadasa and the political authority in the Eastern Province.
The political authority led by Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan, Deputy Minister M.L.A.M. Hisbullah, State Minister Amir Ali and MP A. Yogeswaran, has hailed the initiative which will help uplift the economy of the people in the area.
This project has also received the Cabinet nod after a series of discussions held at official and ministerial levels at the Cabinet Committee on Economic Management.
A technical team from Yesvee Industries made a preliminary visit to these mills at the invitation of the former Competent Authority of Valachchenai Mill, Senarath last year, to ascertain the areas that require development and refurbishment.
They found that the existing machines at Valachchenai Paper Mill needed to be revamped and upgraded as their wear and tear would result in an increase in the cost of production.
This technical team also found that many parts of the paper mill had also been removed and the remain,ing equipment had corroded as part of the machine had been submerged.
The capacity of the board machine at Valachchenai is to be increased to 50 tons a day for 150 GSM Kraft and Board and 100 tons per day for the GSM Chip Board after revamping the existing machines.
The capacity of the paper machine is also to be augmented to produce 30 tons per day for 52 GSM printing and writing grades and 50 tons per day for 100+ GSM low BF Kraft.
Head of the Indian team and Managing Director of Yesvee Industries S. Palaniappan at a recent media conference divulged the present scenario of these paper mills.
He said that many of the parts in these machines were missing and that many parts of the control room had been taken away.
Revamping of machines
He was of the view that production cost could be reduced drastically once the machines were revamped. Palaniappan further stressed the importance of revamping these machines to reduce electricity and steam consumption.
“A ton of paper costs 3200 electricity units and this situation should be arrested by revamping the machines,” he said.
“We specialize in revamping, dismantling and repairing Voith paper and board machines around the world," he added.
He said his technical team participated in the Cabinet Committee on Economic Management headed by former Finance Ministry Secretary R. Paskaralingam and pointed out how production could be streamlined through the revamping of the machines.
Palaniappan added that these two mills would guarantee more than 2,500 direct and indirect employment to the people in these areas once operations commence.
The revamping of these machines are expected to take up to 10 - 12 months, thereafter these machines would not require major repairs for the next 20 years.
Sri Lanka has a surplus of raw materials to manufacture boards and paper. Sri Lanka could meet its entire paper and board demand locally, if these mills resume operation after the revamping drive, he said.
Releasing their inspection report to the media, Palaniappan added that his company expected to start revamping two machines at Valachchenai Paper Mill and one machine at Embilipitiya Mill by January next year while the process would be completed by the end of 2018.
History of the Valachchenai Paper Mill
The Valachchenai Paper Mill built in 1955 started commercial operations in 1956 and the Mill became a state owned venture in 1976.
Reports say more than 3,000 workers were employed at the mill in the 1970s and it had funded the expansion into a second paper mill at Embilipiya in 1976.
Both these public ventures fulfilled 70 per cent of country's paper demand until terrorism engulfed the Eastern Province in the 1990s.
Former Competent Authority of the company, Senarath, while thanking South Korea for granting necessary funds for the resumption of operations at these mills said he was confident that he would be able to turn these state ventures into profitable ventures.
He also thanked the government and South Korean representative, Kim Duck for placing faith in his potential for the development of these mills.
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