Trade Minister Wasantha Samarasinghe says government-owned rice warehouses at the Maradagahamula wholesale market have been revived after remaining unused for around 13 years.
In a Facebook post, the minister said the Maradagahamula rice market was once one of the country’s largest rice trading hubs, influential enough to determine national rice prices. Rice mill owners from major paddy-growing districts such as Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Ampara and Kurunegala used to bring their rice to the market, where wholesale traders from Colombo and other main cities purchased supplies.
He said two government warehouses built at the Marandagahamula wholesale rice complex in 2013 at a cost of millions of rupees had been left unused for years, allowing the buildings to deteriorate.
Samarasinghe said the current government is working to strengthen market price regulation through the state by reactivating the National Cooperative Wholesale Establishment, in collaboration with the Paddy Marketing Board.
Under the programme, paddy purchased by the government is being milled by small and medium-scale mill owners across the country and gradually released to the market to improve rice availability.
The minister said the previously unused warehouse at Maradagahamula is now filled with rice stocks, describing the move as a step towards strengthening the national rice supply chain. (NewsWire)
