Railway lands to be leased to private sector
Posted on June 16th, 2023
Sugath Kulatunga
| Jun 15 (CT) A top official of Dept of Railways said applications from prospective investors to lease around 14,000 acres of land belonging to the Dept have been called and said it will be in effect till 24 June |
Sri Lanka Railway is vastly underutilized. The track and the stations are hardly used during the night. Railway has plenty of land located centrally but unused.
It has been estimated that the post-harvest loss in fruits and vegetables is over 40 percent which is due mainly to faulty packaging and transport. One problem in this system is the cost of transporting the empties back to the production areas. This can be eased if the Railway system is used as a collection, packing, and warehousing facility. They have the land and cheap transport. The empties can be transported back in open wagons to the collection centers.
Railway land, in the centers of production of fruits and vegetables could be used with as collection and packing centers of fruits and vegetables. Thereafter the products could be transported in nestable crates to wholesale distribution centers in consumption areas in wagons with cooling facility. Railway also has the advantage of transporting back the empty crates. It is suggested that the Railway learn from the Assam Rail which uses Reefer wagons to transport perishable products all the way to Calcutta from Assam. GMR is perhaps the biggest landowner of developed land in the country. All that idle land from Dematagoda to Fort could be used for a central wholesale center. It will be a profitable venture for the Railway.