Initiates green conservation; in talks with Government


CEO Channa Abeygunawardene - Pic by Upul Abayasekara

By Sunimalee Dias
Touchwood Investments' Rights Issue has been oversubscribed by 40%, amounting to Rs. 534 million. Having applied for the issue about two years ago, the company is ready to deliver to its shareholders the promises it made.

In this respect, it intends to increase the brand value and buffer stock or land mass substantially by 360 acres, in addition to engaging in value addition, Touchwood Investments CEO Channa Abeygunawardene said. Currently it has 2,500 acres, of which 2,000 acres have been sold.

This value addition will be carried out through timber flooring, which will be part of the entire value chain in a tie up with Touchwood Ltd. The company has established two processing plants in Balangoda and Matale to export value-added products, for sandalwood and vanilla respectively.

The processing plant for vanilla will extract and export the value added product to countries such as India and Thailand while the first consignment of exports in sandalwood is expected to commence in 2015.
In the future the company aims at expanding on its former 'shoestring' budget on brand value by about seven times in a bid to position itself better in the market. This increase is expected to continue for the next two years, Abeygunawardene said.

The company also plans to establish a laboratory for tissue culture to be opened in the first week of next month, which will be sponsored by the company.

Being global in its outreach, the company is involved in learning and sharing experience in view of conservation that could be adopted into one of the biodiversity hotspots of Asia, Sri Lanka. Its parent company, Touchwood Ltd. has set up office in Cambodia that is involved in conservation, which Sri Lanka believes in adopting as a very good opportunity to get retail sector involved in this venture.
Explaining further, Touchwood Group Corporate Finance and Strategy Group Head Shanka Abeywardene said they believed in replicating this in Sri Lanka as it would serve as an opportunity to bring in a substantial amount of money into the country.

In this respect, Touchwood Investments is looking at establishing a framework within the country, a proposal for which has already been handed over to the Government.

This has been carried out with the aim of engaging the Government in a joint national effort to increase its reach in relation to conservation, he said.

In spearheading this initiative, the company hopes to wrap up discussions with the Government on this project by November.

The proposed framework would highlight the need for transparency, expertise to evaluate biodiversity, study species threatened and how to conserve, need for all stakeholders' involvement under one steering committee to take this initiative forward.

The stakeholders would involve the Government, forestry experts, private sector - part of which will be Touchwood Investments and other investors, and the community living in and around the areas to be conserved.
In Cambodia the holding company has currently acquired land bordering the wildlife reserve which is also the last area in which the Cambodian tiger can be found. In this respect, a conservationist approach was adopted while also aiming at accruing profits on this property.

With two million hectares of forest to be conserved, there are 1.2 million hectares of sparsely-used land that can be converted to forest for conservation currently under the Government, it was explained.
The project is proved to act as a win-win situation for the Government and the company and is projected to bring in a substantial revenue and position Sri Lanka in line with corporate governance levels worldwide, Abeygunawardene said.

Currently 5,700 acres of land are being destroyed per month and it was pointed out that a more sustainable solution should be achieved to cater to the demand from a sustainable source and that the company was gearing up for this initiative.

"If this industry were to take place, then the revenue can surpass tea, rubber and coconut revenues taken together," he said.

Meanwhile, in Vietnam, another project carried out by its holding company, Touchwood Investments aims at bringing down to Sri Lanka the jatropha plant, considered to be a wonder crop to replace reliance on imported fuel and create bio diesel.

While this is a crop that can be grown on any kind of soil and is not consumed by cattle, this plant's end product is to serve Touchwood Investments' requirements internally, Abeywardene explained, adding that this would also assist in offsetting the country's carbon footprint.