Sri Lanka’s State Resources and Enterprise Development Ministry is to relaunch the Kankesanthurai cement works, involving an investment of LKR1.5bn (US$11.4m)

NSM Samsudeen, chairman of the Sri Lanka Cement Corporation, handed over proposals to reestablish the defunct factory to Minister Dayasritha Tissera on Friday, according to reports by the Sri Lankan Broadcasting Corporation. The plant is expected to resume operations within a year.

The Kankesanthurai plant is situated in Jaffna, a region with substantial limestone deposits, sufficient for 100 years of production at 3500tpd. The government has previously aimed to seek local partners and in 2011 it merged the Sri Lanka Cement Corp and Lanka Cement as Kankesanthurai Cement. Subsequently, the site has manufactured concrete products to cater for the northern province development.