Valaichchenai Paper Mill
Dilapidated buildings at Paper Mill
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| Built | 1955 |
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| Location | Valaichchenai, Batticaloa, Sri Lanka |
| Coordinates | 7°55′34.04″N 81°30′13.95″E / 7.9261222°N 81.5038750°ECoordinates: 7°55′34.04″N 81°30′13.95″E / 7.9261222°N 81.5038750°E |
| Industry | Paper mill |
Valaichchenai Paper Mill is a state-owned paper mill located in the town of Valaichchenai, Batticaloa District, Sri Lanka. It is considered that this mill is the first paper factory established in Sri Lanka.
Valaichchenai paper mill was established in 1955 with a total investment of about 32 million rupees and it was commissioned for commercial operation in 1956. In 1958 it was renamed as Eastern Paper Mills Corporation. At that time this paper mill was considered as the biggest factory in the Eastern province, especially in the Batticaloa district. The period of 1970s the mill had around 3,000 employees. In 1976 it became state-owned and then run as a state venture. With the expansion programme, carried out by the funds pumped from the Valaichchennai, the 2nd Paper Mills was put up at Embilipitiya in 1976. These two State corporations filled 70 percent of the paper demand of the country. Later time the name of the Eastern Paper Mills Corporation was changed as National Paper Corporation (NPL).
However with the escalation of Sri Lankan Civil War in 1990s in the Eastern province, then government implemented new changes in the market policies with regard to the import of paper. That directly caused to make the industrial difficulties for the Paper Corporation and also caused to lower the production level of the paper mill drastically in the latter part of the 1990s. It was then largely turned into a waste paper recycling center with a newly established network of collecting sub centers. With the time going, production operations at the paper mill were disrupted gradually with the reasons of bad financial situation and lack of experienced staff.
After the defeat of LTTE, then government recommenced the operations of the Valaichchenai paper mill again, but which is now on a very low profile.
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