The new table salt production plant of the Elephant Pass Salt Factory was inaugurated today (29).
It was inaugurated under the patronage of the Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development, Mr. Sunil Handunnetti.
Equipped with modern equipment and facilities, this factory has the capacity to produce 5 metric tons of salt per hour.
The iodized salt produced here, called “Raja Lunu,” will be available to consumers in 1-kilogram and 400-gram table salt packets at the lowest price in the future.
It is also reported that this factory has the potential to generate about 450 direct and indirect jobs.
The salt produced at this Elephant Pass Salt Factory is of very high quality and has become popular both locally and abroad.
Although the Elephant Pass Salt Mine was taken over by the Salt Company in 2001, production was not possible due to the war in Sri Lanka.
However, the factory has now been gradually upgraded to a table salt manufacturing plant.
This mine, which produced 13,800 metric tons of salt in 2024, is expected to produce 20,000 metric tons of salt in 2025.
To meet the salt needs of the people of this country, salt is produced in salt mines located in Hambantota, Puttalam, Mannar, Elephant Pass, and Trincomalee.
Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development Sunil Handunnetti, who attended the opening ceremony of the Elephant Pass Salt Factory, said:
“We want to give the people the right to produce and earn income and eliminate poverty. Our hope is to produce enough salt to meet the needs of the people of the country and add it to the surplus salt export income. That means bringing in the dollars needed by the country. I think we will be able to reach that goal within 2 or 3 years. Also, the amount of salt produced from this Elephant Pass Salt Factory is not enough; we need to get the maximum production from these machines. Therefore, there is the Kurinchathivu Salt Factory on the other side of here. That part was a section where salt production was abandoned during the war, and we hope to start work on that factory soon. We have also sought the necessary cabinet approval to develop it. As a government, we do not run state enterprises to make maximum profits by oppressing the people. We need the relief that the people need. Give. We expect our salt company, like all other businesses, to pay fair taxes to the government, provide jobs to the people, provide goods to the people at the lowest prices, and if the private sector is unfair to the people, to establish fair prices against those unfair prices. We have also made plans to develop the Northern Province in the future and initiate several projects that will contribute to the development of the country. Among them, the Paranthan Chemical Zone, the Mankulam and Kankesanthurai Export Zones, and the Kankesanthurai Port Development Projects are among the special ones.”
