The charcoal factory, a Board of Investment project with 20 clay furnaces, belongs to Reitech Trading Pvt Ltd.

According to the site manager, it is a 60/40 Sri Lanka-China partnership that is planning on exporting charcoal to Japan, China, and Korea primarily. Each furnace produces 1 ton of charcoal for every 4.5 tons of wood burned.

Arambekema villagers point out that their land will soon be barren due to the harmful effects to the environment caused by this project

The company involved in this project is accused of felling trees in the area to keep the charcoal business in operation

BoI officials affirm that no official permission has been given for this project to operate inside the forest reserve But the company claims everything is approved by the state.