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Decades-old Elephant Pass saltern to be activated fully to address salt shortage



By Huzefa Aliasger

In a bid to address the salt shortage, chairman of National Salt Limited Gayan Wellala said plans are underway to fully activate the saltern including one in Elephant Pass in the north by March, this year to increase production of salt in the country

Mr. Wellala told the Daily Mirror that the Northern area salterns including the Elephant Pass that have been inactive since the civil war and is still not completely restored are being developed to help increase production.

In 2001 Elephant Pass administration came under National Salt Limited by the Cabinet decision, after liberating the area in 2009 the Saltern was taken over by the Ministry of Traditional Industry & Small Enterprise Development, and they did renovation activity at a cost of Rs.100 million. Meanwhile, the Cabinet approved Rs.125 million for phase-2 activity in 2015.

The saltern is now again transferred to the National Salt Limited administration by the Gazette notification of 21st Sep 2015. The renovation activities now have been completed 95% in Phase -1 and phase-2 area in 2018. With the current renovation, production is expected to reach around 20,000 tonnes per annum.

Salterns usually begin with seawater as the initial source of brine but may also use natural saltwater springs and streams. The water is evaporated, usually over a series of ponds, to the point where sodium chloride and other salts precipitate out of the saturated brine, allowing pure salts to be harvested

The salt shortage is attributed to the recent adverse weather which prevailed in the country, which has created a big drop in salt production. As a result, the anticipated salt production targets were not met. One of the main reasons is the inflow of rainwater into the lagoon affecting the salt concentration and thereby the production and absence of salt production at the salt pans in 2023 with a 40 per cent decrease in production.

Cabinet approval has been granted to import 30,000 metric tons of non-iodised salt before January 31, 2025, as a precaution against any anticipated shortage. Salt is being imported for local consumption after 15 years.

“With the inflows of the imports and the restoration of the salterns the shortage is going to be temporary, about three to four months” Gayan said.



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