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Long-delayed Kantale sugar factory revival gets underway
By Bandula Sirimanna
The long-delayed Kantale sugar factory revival will soon get underway following the release of the 500-acre land to the foreign investor, a senior official said.
The land was handed over to the Board of Investment (BOI) to proceed with the project, Dr. I.H.K. Mahanama, Secretary of the Lands Ministry, told the Business Times this week adding that the ministry will sell the discarded machinery and scrap metal within six months in accordance with the instructions issued by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Management (CCEM).
The valuation report of the Chief Valuer on the sugar factory has been submitted to the Attorney General and the ministry has received his consent to go ahead with the project handing over the land to the investor through BOI, he disclosed.
The BOI will have to sign a supplementary agreement with MG Sugars Lanka Pvt Ltd to revive the defunct Kantale Sugar Factory, he said.
It was nearly two years ago, in July 2015 that the BOI inked an agreement with MG Sugars Lanka Pvt Ltd to revive the Factory.
The company, a partnership between Bangalore-based Shri Prabulingeshwar Sugars Chemicals Ltd and Singapore’s SLI Development Pte Ltd, had agreed to invest US$100 million inclusive of a Swiss Bank guarantee of $10 million.
The company had then conducted a $2 million feasibility study on the project through a German Company Bosh.
It planned to process 500,000 metric tons of sugarcane within 18 months after re-launching the factory providing benefits for 25,000 farmer families in the area. The total number of direct employment generation would be around 1,220.
BOI Chairman Upul Jayasuriya told reporters in Colombo last month that the investor was keen to begin the project soon after factory and the 500-acre land is handed over by the government.
Shri Prabulingeshwar Sugars and Chemicals Ltd, Bangalore, an experienced group of companies engaged in sugar cane cultivation, sugar manufacturing, co-generation of power plants and dairy industry will be the technical partner for the project.
The 30-year lease agreement has to be signed with the investor and the project would run on Built, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis in the basis of shareholding of 51 per cent held by the Government of Sri Lanka and 49 per cent by the foreign investor.
The new investment agreement will be to revive and restructure Kantale Sugar factory to process 4000 TCD of sugar cane and manufacture 72,000 MT sugar per year, generation of electricity and dairy products, as per the approval granted by the Cabinet of Ministers.
This sugar factory was constructed in 1957 by the government of Czechoslovakia as a grant offered to the country during the tenure of Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike and it was opened in 1960.
It had been smoothly functioning as a profit earning venture until 1986. Thereafter it ceased to be an income earning enterprise and various attempts were made to identify a suitable investor.
Industry sources said it would be highly beneficial to restart Kantale Sugar Factory which was inactive over a long period of time as an accelerated development process.
This would also address loss of direct and indirect job opportunities in the area as well as losses to the local economy due to non-operation of the sugar factory, they added.
- http://www.sundaytimes.lk/170507/bu...gar-factory-revival-gets-underway-239200.html
By Bandula Sirimanna
The long-delayed Kantale sugar factory revival will soon get underway following the release of the 500-acre land to the foreign investor, a senior official said.
The land was handed over to the Board of Investment (BOI) to proceed with the project, Dr. I.H.K. Mahanama, Secretary of the Lands Ministry, told the Business Times this week adding that the ministry will sell the discarded machinery and scrap metal within six months in accordance with the instructions issued by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Management (CCEM).
The valuation report of the Chief Valuer on the sugar factory has been submitted to the Attorney General and the ministry has received his consent to go ahead with the project handing over the land to the investor through BOI, he disclosed.
The BOI will have to sign a supplementary agreement with MG Sugars Lanka Pvt Ltd to revive the defunct Kantale Sugar Factory, he said.
It was nearly two years ago, in July 2015 that the BOI inked an agreement with MG Sugars Lanka Pvt Ltd to revive the Factory.
The company, a partnership between Bangalore-based Shri Prabulingeshwar Sugars Chemicals Ltd and Singapore’s SLI Development Pte Ltd, had agreed to invest US$100 million inclusive of a Swiss Bank guarantee of $10 million.
The company had then conducted a $2 million feasibility study on the project through a German Company Bosh.
It planned to process 500,000 metric tons of sugarcane within 18 months after re-launching the factory providing benefits for 25,000 farmer families in the area. The total number of direct employment generation would be around 1,220.
BOI Chairman Upul Jayasuriya told reporters in Colombo last month that the investor was keen to begin the project soon after factory and the 500-acre land is handed over by the government.
Shri Prabulingeshwar Sugars and Chemicals Ltd, Bangalore, an experienced group of companies engaged in sugar cane cultivation, sugar manufacturing, co-generation of power plants and dairy industry will be the technical partner for the project.
The 30-year lease agreement has to be signed with the investor and the project would run on Built, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis in the basis of shareholding of 51 per cent held by the Government of Sri Lanka and 49 per cent by the foreign investor.
The new investment agreement will be to revive and restructure Kantale Sugar factory to process 4000 TCD of sugar cane and manufacture 72,000 MT sugar per year, generation of electricity and dairy products, as per the approval granted by the Cabinet of Ministers.
This sugar factory was constructed in 1957 by the government of Czechoslovakia as a grant offered to the country during the tenure of Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike and it was opened in 1960.
It had been smoothly functioning as a profit earning venture until 1986. Thereafter it ceased to be an income earning enterprise and various attempts were made to identify a suitable investor.
Industry sources said it would be highly beneficial to restart Kantale Sugar Factory which was inactive over a long period of time as an accelerated development process.
This would also address loss of direct and indirect job opportunities in the area as well as losses to the local economy due to non-operation of the sugar factory, they added.
- http://www.sundaytimes.lk/170507/bu...gar-factory-revival-gets-underway-239200.html
‘BRIDGE ON THE KOTTE ROAD’ READY END 2O17
2017-05-04
STORY AND PICTURES BY RAVI LADDUWAHETTY
This story may not have the same enigma and suspense of Bridge on the River Kwai where the bridge was in the salubrious climes of Kitulgala enveloped with the luscious greenery and the chilling meandering waters of the waterfalls and streams which featured in the 1957 British-American epic war film directed by David Lean and starring William Holden, Jack Hawkins, Alec Guinness and Sessue Hayakawa. Based on the novel Le Pont de la RivièreKwai (1952) by Pierre Boulle, the film is a work of fiction, but borrows the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942–1943 for its historical setting.
It is all about the bridge or the flyover which is connecting Parliament Road at Rajagiriya where it would have the traffic flowing uninterrupted without the cross traffic from Cotta Road and Nawala Road.
This is a Rs 4.5 billion project is funded by the Government of Spain and a Spanish contractor where the local contractor is Access Engineering. The loan is absolutely on concessionary terms payable in 30 years and that too, at a concessionary rate of merely under 1 per cent, Chairman of the Road Development Authority (RDA) Nihal Sooriyaarachchi told Ceylon Today.
Civil Engineer
The RDA Chairman, himself a Civil Engineer said the contract agreement specified that the project was to end in 2018 but the surveys and the studies that he had done with his RDA team of engineers had revealed that the project could be finished end 2017.
The strategic move is to stall the cross traffic and this will see that there is an uninterrupted flow of traffic on all routes, he explained. Quoting an example, he said if a motorist wanted to travel from Nawala to Battaramulla or to Parliament, he will be able to move without disrupting the traffic on the main Parliament Road highway.
The funds are credited to the project and not to the government. So, there will be no way that the money would be pilfered or tampered with. However, there is no contractual obligation on the part of the government to pay extra to the contractors for finishing ahead of time, but it will only enhance the credibility of the contractor as having the reputation of finishing the job ahead of time.
Three more flyovers
He also said there would be three more flyovers near the Castle Street Maternity Hospital and Cotta Road, both near the railway lines so that the traffic which is very heavy during peak hours in the morning and the evening, would be slashed.
The project will have two double lanes and will be constructed in steel to ensure its rigidity where even buses and lorries and other heavy duty vehicles could travel unlike Galle Road, Dehiwala flyover. We have tested the strength of the flyover and there is absolutely no reason for panic at all, he assured.
This is seen as the most important as there are ten morning trains on the Kelani Valley line starting from 7.00 a.m. and it is a repeat innings in the evening as well which stalls the traffic by a considerable period of time, leading to massive delays in the office traffic in the mornings and also in the evenings, both at Castle Street and Cotta Road at the railway crossings.
Movement of traffic
There would be also another flyover on Baseline Road near Campbell Place so that the movement of traffic could be fast tracked on Baseline Road. The government has apparently learnt from the benefits of the Dematagoda railway crossings which have a flyover and there are absolutely no delays.
However, the other three new flyover projects are at discussion and design stage yet, the RDA chief said.
- https://ceylontoday.lk/print20170401CT20170630.php?id=20321
2017-05-04
STORY AND PICTURES BY RAVI LADDUWAHETTY
This story may not have the same enigma and suspense of Bridge on the River Kwai where the bridge was in the salubrious climes of Kitulgala enveloped with the luscious greenery and the chilling meandering waters of the waterfalls and streams which featured in the 1957 British-American epic war film directed by David Lean and starring William Holden, Jack Hawkins, Alec Guinness and Sessue Hayakawa. Based on the novel Le Pont de la RivièreKwai (1952) by Pierre Boulle, the film is a work of fiction, but borrows the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942–1943 for its historical setting.
It is all about the bridge or the flyover which is connecting Parliament Road at Rajagiriya where it would have the traffic flowing uninterrupted without the cross traffic from Cotta Road and Nawala Road.
This is a Rs 4.5 billion project is funded by the Government of Spain and a Spanish contractor where the local contractor is Access Engineering. The loan is absolutely on concessionary terms payable in 30 years and that too, at a concessionary rate of merely under 1 per cent, Chairman of the Road Development Authority (RDA) Nihal Sooriyaarachchi told Ceylon Today.
Civil Engineer
The RDA Chairman, himself a Civil Engineer said the contract agreement specified that the project was to end in 2018 but the surveys and the studies that he had done with his RDA team of engineers had revealed that the project could be finished end 2017.
The strategic move is to stall the cross traffic and this will see that there is an uninterrupted flow of traffic on all routes, he explained. Quoting an example, he said if a motorist wanted to travel from Nawala to Battaramulla or to Parliament, he will be able to move without disrupting the traffic on the main Parliament Road highway.
The funds are credited to the project and not to the government. So, there will be no way that the money would be pilfered or tampered with. However, there is no contractual obligation on the part of the government to pay extra to the contractors for finishing ahead of time, but it will only enhance the credibility of the contractor as having the reputation of finishing the job ahead of time.
Three more flyovers
He also said there would be three more flyovers near the Castle Street Maternity Hospital and Cotta Road, both near the railway lines so that the traffic which is very heavy during peak hours in the morning and the evening, would be slashed.
The project will have two double lanes and will be constructed in steel to ensure its rigidity where even buses and lorries and other heavy duty vehicles could travel unlike Galle Road, Dehiwala flyover. We have tested the strength of the flyover and there is absolutely no reason for panic at all, he assured.
This is seen as the most important as there are ten morning trains on the Kelani Valley line starting from 7.00 a.m. and it is a repeat innings in the evening as well which stalls the traffic by a considerable period of time, leading to massive delays in the office traffic in the mornings and also in the evenings, both at Castle Street and Cotta Road at the railway crossings.
Movement of traffic
There would be also another flyover on Baseline Road near Campbell Place so that the movement of traffic could be fast tracked on Baseline Road. The government has apparently learnt from the benefits of the Dematagoda railway crossings which have a flyover and there are absolutely no delays.
However, the other three new flyover projects are at discussion and design stage yet, the RDA chief said.
- https://ceylontoday.lk/print20170401CT20170630.php?id=20321
European Council grants GSP+ to Sri Lanka
Thu, May 11, 2017, 08:34 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka
May 11, Brussels: The European Council has approved granting the Generalized System of Preferences Plus (GSP+) tariff concession to Sri Lanka allowing the island nation to export its products tax-free to the European market.
The Foreign Affairs Council at its meeting held today agreed to grant additional trade preferences to Sri Lanka.
Granting the GSP+ facility, the Council said Sri Lanka has ratified and implemented measures contained in a number of international conventions on human and labor rights, environment protection and good governance.
"On this basis, Sri Lanka has become eligible to receive additional tariff preferences for sustainable development and good governance, in addition to the generalized scheme of tariff preferences benefitting to all developing countries," the Council said.
The European Parliament last month voted to approve granting the GSP+ tariff concession to Sri Lanka again.
The 751-member European Parliament's vote follwed the European Commission's recommendation in January that GSP+ should be granted to Sri Lanka once again after withdrawing it in 2010 due to the poor human rights record of the country.
In 2015, the new government of Sri Lanka set out a path of major reforms aiming for national reconciliation, respect of human rights, the rule of law and good governance principles, as well as sustainable economic development.
The Sri Lankan government applied for GSP+ in July 2016 and the Commission's assessment has concluded that it met the GSP+ entry criteria set out in the EU Regulation.
The EU is Sri Lanka's biggest export market accounting for nearly one-third of Sri Lanka's global exports. In 2015, total bilateral trade amounted to Euro 4.7 billion. EU imports from Sri Lanka amounted to euro 2.6 billion and consisted mainly of textiles as well as rubber products and machinery.
- http://www.colombopage.com/archive_17A/May11_1494515096CH.php
Thu, May 11, 2017, 08:34 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka
May 11, Brussels: The European Council has approved granting the Generalized System of Preferences Plus (GSP+) tariff concession to Sri Lanka allowing the island nation to export its products tax-free to the European market.
The Foreign Affairs Council at its meeting held today agreed to grant additional trade preferences to Sri Lanka.
Granting the GSP+ facility, the Council said Sri Lanka has ratified and implemented measures contained in a number of international conventions on human and labor rights, environment protection and good governance.
"On this basis, Sri Lanka has become eligible to receive additional tariff preferences for sustainable development and good governance, in addition to the generalized scheme of tariff preferences benefitting to all developing countries," the Council said.
The European Parliament last month voted to approve granting the GSP+ tariff concession to Sri Lanka again.
The 751-member European Parliament's vote follwed the European Commission's recommendation in January that GSP+ should be granted to Sri Lanka once again after withdrawing it in 2010 due to the poor human rights record of the country.
In 2015, the new government of Sri Lanka set out a path of major reforms aiming for national reconciliation, respect of human rights, the rule of law and good governance principles, as well as sustainable economic development.
The Sri Lankan government applied for GSP+ in July 2016 and the Commission's assessment has concluded that it met the GSP+ entry criteria set out in the EU Regulation.
The EU is Sri Lanka's biggest export market accounting for nearly one-third of Sri Lanka's global exports. In 2015, total bilateral trade amounted to Euro 4.7 billion. EU imports from Sri Lanka amounted to euro 2.6 billion and consisted mainly of textiles as well as rubber products and machinery.
- http://www.colombopage.com/archive_17A/May11_1494515096CH.php
CPC plans initial upgrade of sole refinery
Friday, 12 May 2017 00:00
Reuters: The State-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corp (CPC) is planning an initial upgrade of its decades-old refinery to produce better grade motor fuels and increase its capacity in a move expected to cost nearly $ 100 million dollars, CPC officials said.
The refinery was originally configured to run on Iranian crude and Sri Lanka had to import more refined oil products after US sanctions caused it to stop crude imports from Iran in 2012. It now runs primarily on Murban crude oil.
The CPC has invited bids to carry out front-end engineering design (FEED) for a new continuous catalyst regeneration (CCR) reformer unit for producing high octane gasoline from heavy naphtha feedstock at its 50,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) Sapugaskanda refinery, according to a tender document.
It is also planning to upgrade the capacity of its crude distillation unit (CDU) to 70,000 bpd from the current 50,000 bpd, and its gasoil hydrotreater to 11,500 bpd from 7,200 bpd.
The refinery, built in the 1960s and the only one in Sri Lanka, is in need of urgent repairs, said CPC Managing Director Nadun Fernando.
“The repair will be done in such a way that there will be minimum impact on the refinery operation, though there could be temporary closure from time to time,” he said.
“The repair will also be done to ensure we do not need to do major changes in the refinery’s repaired sections when we start our real expansion plan.”
The tender for the FEED contract closes on 16 May. The tender may take three to four months to be awarded, another company official told Reuters, declining to be named as he was not authorised to speak with media.
CPC’s plan to partially expand the refinery, which is expected to take 1-1/2 years and cost $ 90 million, will be done with its own funds, Fernando said.
But the company also announced plans last year to double the capacity of the refinery.
This full-fledged expansion and modernisation project is expected to cost $ 2.5 billion, for which it is considering various funding options, Fernando said.
The other official said the cabinet still needed to approve this full expansion to double the capacity of the refinery.
“There are no funds with the Government to do this, so we will have to go for either private sector or external funding.”
- http://www.ft.lk/article/614520/CPC-plans-initial-upgrade-of-sole-refinery
Friday, 12 May 2017 00:00
- FEED to install gasoline-making unit, revamp others
- Initial expansion expected to cost nearly $ 100 million
- Project for initial upgrade could take 1-1/2 years
- Full expansion to double capacity to cost $ 2.5 billion to complete
Reuters: The State-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corp (CPC) is planning an initial upgrade of its decades-old refinery to produce better grade motor fuels and increase its capacity in a move expected to cost nearly $ 100 million dollars, CPC officials said.
The refinery was originally configured to run on Iranian crude and Sri Lanka had to import more refined oil products after US sanctions caused it to stop crude imports from Iran in 2012. It now runs primarily on Murban crude oil.
The CPC has invited bids to carry out front-end engineering design (FEED) for a new continuous catalyst regeneration (CCR) reformer unit for producing high octane gasoline from heavy naphtha feedstock at its 50,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) Sapugaskanda refinery, according to a tender document.
It is also planning to upgrade the capacity of its crude distillation unit (CDU) to 70,000 bpd from the current 50,000 bpd, and its gasoil hydrotreater to 11,500 bpd from 7,200 bpd.
The refinery, built in the 1960s and the only one in Sri Lanka, is in need of urgent repairs, said CPC Managing Director Nadun Fernando.
“The repair will be done in such a way that there will be minimum impact on the refinery operation, though there could be temporary closure from time to time,” he said.
“The repair will also be done to ensure we do not need to do major changes in the refinery’s repaired sections when we start our real expansion plan.”
The tender for the FEED contract closes on 16 May. The tender may take three to four months to be awarded, another company official told Reuters, declining to be named as he was not authorised to speak with media.
CPC’s plan to partially expand the refinery, which is expected to take 1-1/2 years and cost $ 90 million, will be done with its own funds, Fernando said.
But the company also announced plans last year to double the capacity of the refinery.
This full-fledged expansion and modernisation project is expected to cost $ 2.5 billion, for which it is considering various funding options, Fernando said.
The other official said the cabinet still needed to approve this full expansion to double the capacity of the refinery.
“There are no funds with the Government to do this, so we will have to go for either private sector or external funding.”
- http://www.ft.lk/article/614520/CPC-plans-initial-upgrade-of-sole-refinery
Chinese Buyers Behind Surging Demand For Sri Lanka's Latest Bonds
by Narae Kim and Carrie Hong
May 10, 2017, 6:36 AM GMT+5:30 May 10, 2017, 1:11 PM GMT+5:30
A surge in demand for Sri Lanka’s latest dollar bond is putting a spotlight on the appetite for emerging-market securities, even amid the Federal Reserve’s tightening campaign.
The small South Asian country garnered more than $11 billion of orders for the $1.5 billion of 10-year notes it sold last week, marking a quadrupling in demand compared with its dollar-debt issuance in 2015 and 2016. Chinese banks participated in arranging the sale for the first time, underscoring Sri Lanka’s deepening ties with Asia’s biggest economy.
Strategically located along the maritime Silk Road route championed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, Sri Lanka is also benefiting from Chinese thirst for investments linked to their government’s Belt and Road development initiative. Three people involved in the bond sale noted the presence of Chinese buyers in the allocation.
“This was the first time that Chinese banks were among the joint lead managers,” Indrajit Coomaraswamy, governor of the central bank of Sri Lanka, said by e-mail, confirming the bond allocations. “There was encouraging support from the Chinese investors.”
Since Xi introduced the Silk Road initiative in 2013, China has invested more than $50 billion in Belt and Road countries to develop new land and sea trade links with Asia, Europe and Africa, according to a report by the official Xinhua News Agency. Credit Suisse Group AG analysts expect China to pour more than half a trillion dollars into the efforts.
Read the full article: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...s-demand-for-sri-lanka-bond-some-see-as-risky
by Narae Kim and Carrie Hong
May 10, 2017, 6:36 AM GMT+5:30 May 10, 2017, 1:11 PM GMT+5:30
A surge in demand for Sri Lanka’s latest dollar bond is putting a spotlight on the appetite for emerging-market securities, even amid the Federal Reserve’s tightening campaign.
The small South Asian country garnered more than $11 billion of orders for the $1.5 billion of 10-year notes it sold last week, marking a quadrupling in demand compared with its dollar-debt issuance in 2015 and 2016. Chinese banks participated in arranging the sale for the first time, underscoring Sri Lanka’s deepening ties with Asia’s biggest economy.
Strategically located along the maritime Silk Road route championed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, Sri Lanka is also benefiting from Chinese thirst for investments linked to their government’s Belt and Road development initiative. Three people involved in the bond sale noted the presence of Chinese buyers in the allocation.
“This was the first time that Chinese banks were among the joint lead managers,” Indrajit Coomaraswamy, governor of the central bank of Sri Lanka, said by e-mail, confirming the bond allocations. “There was encouraging support from the Chinese investors.”
Since Xi introduced the Silk Road initiative in 2013, China has invested more than $50 billion in Belt and Road countries to develop new land and sea trade links with Asia, Europe and Africa, according to a report by the official Xinhua News Agency. Credit Suisse Group AG analysts expect China to pour more than half a trillion dollars into the efforts.
Read the full article: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...s-demand-for-sri-lanka-bond-some-see-as-risky
ආයෝජන ප්රවර්ධනය සහ ආර්ථික හා තාක්ෂණික සහයෝගිතාව සම්බන්ධයෙන් ශ්රී ලංකාව සහ චීනය අතර එකඟතාවන්ට එළඹීම
- ආයෝජන අවස්ථා ඉහළ නැංවීම සහ ආර්ථික හා තාක්ෂණික සහයෝගිතාව වැඩිදියුණු කිරීමේ අරමුණින් අවබෝධතා ගිවිසුමකට මහජන චීන සමූහාණ්ඩුවේ වාණිජ අමාත්යාංශය සහ ශ්රී ලංකා ප්රජාතාන්ත්රික සමාජවාදී ජනරජයේ සංවර්ධන උපාය මාර්ග හා ජාත්යන්තර වෙළඳ අමාත්යාංශය විසින් 2016.04.07 දින අත්සත් තබනු ලැබ තිබේ. එම අවබෝධතා ගිවිසුම යටතේ හඳුනා ගන්නා ලද ප්රමුඛතා ව්යාපෘති මත පදනම්ව සකස් කරනු ලැබ ඇති කාර්ය රාමු ගිවිසුමකට හා මධ්ය හා දිගුකාලීන සැලසුම් ආකෘතියකට ශ්රී ලංකාව සහ චීනය අතර අත්සන් තැබීම සඳහා සංවර්ධන උපායමාර්ග හා ජාත්යන්තර වෙළඳ අමාත්ය මලික් සමරවික්රම මැතිතුමා ඉදිරිපත් කළ යෝජනාව අමාත්ය මණ්ඩලය විසින් අනුමත කරන ලදී.
ශ්රී ලංකාවේ ඩොප්ලර් රේඩාර් ජාලයක් ස්ථාපනය කිරීම
- ව්යසනකාරි කාලගුණික සංසිද්ධීන් හඳුනාගෙන නිවැරදි අනාවැකි ජනතාවට ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට හැකි වන පරිදි කාලගුණ විද්යා දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ ඩොප්ලර් රේඩාර් ජාලයක් ස්ථාපනය කිරීම සඳහා ජපන් යෙන් මිලියන 2,503ක් (ආසන්න වශයෙන් රුපියල් මිලියන 3,422ක්) ප්රදානයක් වශයෙන් ජපාන ජාත්යන්තර සහයෝගිතා ආයතනය (JICA) මඟින් ලබා දීමට ජපාන රජය එකඟතාව පළ කරනු ලැබ තිබේ. ඒ සඳහා හුවමාරු පත්ර අත්සන් කිරීමට හා ප්රදාන ආධාර ගිවිසුමකට එළඹීම පිණිස ජාතික ප්රතිපත්ති හා ආර්ථික කටයුතු අමාත්යතුමා වශයෙන් ගරු අග්රාමාත්ය රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ මැතිතුමා ඉදිරිපත් කළ යෝජනාව අමාත්ය මණ්ඩලය විසින් අනුමත කරන ලදී.
ගංවතුර අවම කිරීමේ ව්යාපෘති ක්රියාත්මක කිරීම - 2017
- 2010 වර්ෂයේ නොවැම්බර් මාසයේ ඇති වූ අධික වර්ෂාව හේතුවෙන් කොළඹ නගරයේ ඇති වූ ගංවතුර තත්ත්වයෙන් පසු කොළඹ නගරය සහ තදාසන්න ප්රදේශවල ගංවතුර අවම කිරීමේ ප්රයත්නයන් ගණනාවක් ශ්රී ලංකා ඉඩම් ගොඩකිරීමේ හා සංවර්ධනය කිරීමේ සංස්ථාව විසින් ක්රියාත්මක කරනු ලැබ ඇත. ඒ අනුව, 2016 වර්ෂය තුළ ගංවතුර අවම කිරීමේ ව්යාපෘති සඳහා රුපියල් මිලියන 3,500ක් වෙන් කරන ලදී. 2017 වර්ෂය වෙනුවෙන් රුපියල් මිලියන 3,700ක ඇස්තමේන්තුගත පිරිවැයක් යටතේ ජල පොම්පාගාර ඉදි කිරීම, වගුරු බිම් සංරක්ෂණය, ගංවතුර තත්ත්ව අධ්යයන ආදී ගංවතුර අවම කිරීමේ ව්යාපෘති ක්රියාත්මක කෙරෙන අතර ඉන් ඇතැම් ව්යාපෘති දැනටමත් ආරම්භ කරනු ලැබ තිබේ. ඒ අනුව, මේ වන විට ක්රියාත්මක කෙරෙමින් පවතින ගංවතුර පාලන ව්යාපෘති ඉදිරියට ක්රියාත්මක කර ගෙන යාම පිණිස මහානගර හා බස්නාහිර සංවර්ධන අමාත්ය පාඨලී චම්පික රණවක මැතිතුමා ඉදිරිපත් කළ යෝජනාව අමාත්ය මණ්ඩලය විසින් ප්රතිපත්තිමය වශයෙන් අනුමත කරන ලදී.
මහනුවර උතුර - පාතදුම්බර ඒකාබද්ධ ජල සම්පාදන ව්යාපෘතිය
- මහනුවර උතුර - පාතදුම්බර ඒකාබද්ධ ජල සම්පාදන ව්යාපෘතිය මඟින් පාතදුම්බර, පූජාපිටිය, අකුරණ, හාරිස්පත්තුව, ගඟවටකෝරළේ හා තුම්පනේ යන ප්රාදේශීය ලේකම් කොට්ඨාස 6ක ජනතාව වෙත සුරක්ෂිත පානීය ජල සම්පාදන පහසුකම් සැපයීමට අපේක්ෂා කෙරේ. මෙම ව්යාපෘතිය ක්රියාත්මක කිරීම සඳහා වාණිජ කොන්ත්රාත්තුවලට එළඹීම පිණිස දැනටමත් අමාත්ය මණ්ඩලය විසින් අනුමැතිය ලබා දෙනු ලැබ තිබේ. එම ව්යාපෘතියේ මුළු පිරිවැය ආවරණය වන පරිදි සහනශීලි ණය මුදලක් ලබා දීමට චීනයේ අපනයනය ආනයන බැංකුව (EXIM Bank of China) එකඟ වී ඇත. ඒ අනුව, එම ණය මුදල ලබාගැනීම සදහා ණය ගිවිසුමකට එළඹීම පිණිස ජාතික ප්රතිපත්ති හා ආර්ථික කටයුතු අමාත්යතුමා වශයෙන් ගරු අග්රාමාත්ය රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ මැතිතුමා ඉදිරිපත් කළ යෝජනාව අමාත්ය මණ්ඩලය විසින් අනුමත කරන ලදී.
හැඩ ඔය ජල සම්පාදන ව්යාපෘතිය ක්රියාත්මක කිරීම
- ලාහුගල, පොතුවිල්, පානම සහ සියඹලාණ්ඩුව යන ප්රදේශවල පදිංචි ජනතාවට සහ පොතුවිල් හා පානම සංචාරක කලාප සඳහා පානීය ජලය සපයනු ලබන ප්රධාන ජල මූලාශ්රය වන හැඩ ඔයෙහි වර්තමානයේ පවතින ජල ප්රවාහය එම පානීය ජල ඉල්ලුම සැපයීම සඳහා ප්රමාණත් නොවේ. හැඩ ඔය හරස් කර ජලාශයක් ඉදි කිරීමේ ව්යාපෘතිය ක්රියාත්මක කිරීම සඳහා අමාත්ය මණ්ඩලය විසින් දැනටමත් අනුමැතිය ලබා දෙනු ලැබ ඇති අතර, ඊට සමගාමීව හැඩ ඔය ජල සම්පාදන ව්යාපෘතිය ක්රියාත්මක කිරීම සඳහා 'ස්විස් චැලෙන්ජ්' ප්රසම්පාදන ක්රමය අනුගමනය කරමින් සුදුසු කොන්ත්රාත්කරුවකු තෝරා ගැනීම පිණිස නගර සැලසුම් හා ජල සම්පාදන අමාත්ය රවුෆ් හකීම් මැතිතුමා ඉදිරිපත් කළ යෝජනාව අමාත්ය මණ්ඩලය විසින් අනුමත කරන ලදී.
දැනට ක්රියාත්මක කෙරෙමින් පවතින වාරි ව්යාපෘති කිහිපයක වැඩ කඩිනමින් නිම කිරීම
- මිනිපේ වම් ඉවුර පුනරුත්ථාපනය, කිතුල් ජලාශය හා රූගම් ජලාශය ව්යාපෘති, කුඹක්කන් ඔය ජලාශ ව්යාපෘතිය හා මන්නාරම තරාපුරම් වැව යන ව්යාපෘති සඳහා රුපියල් මිලියන 600ක් 2017 අයවැය මඟින් වෙන් කරනු ලැබ තිබේ. එම ප්රතිපාදනවලින් රුපියල් මිලියන 300ක් දැනටමත් මහ භාණ්ඩාගාරය විසින් නිදහස් කරනු ලැබ තිබේ. ආසියානු සංවර්ධන බැංකු අරමුදල් යටතේ ක්රියාත්මක වන මහවැලි ජල සුරක්ෂිතතා වැඩසටහන මඟින් මිනිපේ වම් ඉවුරු ඇළෙහි වැඩ සඳහා දැනටමත් අරමුදල් වෙන් කරනු ලැබ ඇති බැවින් සහ කිතුල් ජලාශය හා රූගම් ජලාශය ව්යාපෘති සඳහා මේ වසරේ තවදුරටත් ප්රතිපාදන අවශ්ය නොවන බැවින් එකී රුපියල් මිලියන 300ක ප්රතිපාදන, දැනට ක්රියාත්මක කෙරෙමින් පවතින ගෝනගල තැන්න වැව ව්යාපෘතිය, ගුරුගල්ඔය වැව ව්යාපෘතිය, භූගත ජල අධීක්ෂණ පද්ධතිය ස්ථාපිත කිරීමේ නියමු ව්යාපෘතිය සහ වෙල්ලස්ස නවෝදය ව්යාපෘතියේ මොනරාගල දිස්ත්රික් යටිතල පහසුකම් නැංවීම යන ව්යාපෘතිවල වැඩ නිම කිරීම සඳහා භාවිත කිරීම පිණිස වාරිමාර්ග හා ජලසම්පත් කළමනාකරණ අමාත්ය විජිත් විජයමුණි සොයිසා මැතිතුමා ඉදිරිපත් කළ යෝජනාව අමාත්ය මණ්ඩලය විසින් අනුමත කරන ලදී.
උතුරු හා නැඟෙනහිර පළාත්වල පෙරසවි නිවාස ඉදි කිරීම
- උතුරු හා නැඟෙනහිර පළාත්වල යුද්ධයෙන් පීඩාවට පත් අවතැන් වූ පවුල් සඳහා නිවාස ලබා දීමේ අරමුණින් ක්රියාත්මක කිරීමට යෝජනා වී ඇති පෙරසවි නිවාස ඉදි කිරීමේ ව්යාපෘතිය නැවත ඇගයීමට ලක් කිරීම සඳහා පත් කරනු ලැබූ විශේෂ ව්යාපෘති අමාත්ය ආචාර්ය සරත් අමුණුගම මැතිතුමාගේ නිර්දේශ මත පදනම්ව මූලික වශයෙන් එක් නිවසක් රුපියල් මිලියන 1.5ක පිරිවැයක් යටතේ නිවාස 6,000ක් ඉදි කිරීම පිණිස ආර්ථික කළමනාකරණය පිළිබඳ අමාත්ය මණ්ඩල කාරක සභාව විසින් නිර්දේශ කරනු ලැබ තිබේ. ඒ අනුව, පෙරසවි නිවාස 6,000ක් ඉදි කිරීමටත්, අවතැන් පවුල්වල ඉල්ලීම හා එකඟතාව මත එකී ඉදි කරනු ලබන නිවාස ලබා දීමටත් බන්ධනාගාර ප්රතිසංස්කරණ, පුනරුත්ථාපන, නැවත පදිංචි කිරීම හා හින්දු ආගමික කටයුතු අමාත්ය ඩී.එම්.ස්වාමිනාදන් මැතිතුමා ඉදිරිපත් කළ යෝජනාව අමාත්ය මණ්ඩලය විසින් අනුමත කරන ලදී. එමෙන්ම උතුරු හා නැඟෙනහිර පළාත්වල යුද ගැටුම් නිසා අවතැන් වූ පවුල් සඳහා ගඩොල් හා සිමෙන්ති භාවිතයෙන් ඉදි කිරීමට යෝජිත නිවාස 59,000ක ව්යාපෘතිය ක්රියාත්මක කළ යුතු ආකාරය පිළිබඳව නිර්දේශ ඉදිරිපත් කිරීම සඳහා ඉහළ පෙළේ නිලධාරි කමිටුවක් පත් කිරීමටත් තීරණය කරන ලදී.
කළුතර මහ රෝහලේ හදිසි අනතුරු හා හදිසි වෛද්ය ප්රතිකාර ඒකකයේ දෙවන අදියර ඉදි කිරීම
- කළුතර දිස්ත්රික්කයේ පිහිටි ප්රධානතම රෝහල වන කළුතර මහ රෝහලේ හදිසි අනතුරු හා හදිසි වෛද්ය ප්රතිකාර ඒකකයේ ඉදි කිරීම් කටයුතු 2015 වර්ෂයේදී ආරම්භ කරනු ලැබ තිබේ. අදාළ ගොඩනැඟිල්ලේ පළමු අදියරේ ඉදි කිරීම් කටයුතු මේ වන විට සිදු කෙරෙමින් පවතින අතර එහි තුන්වන සහ හතරවන මහල්වල ඉදි කිරීම් කටයුතු ඇතුළත් දෙවන අදියරේ වැඩකටයුතු කඩිනමින් ආරම්භ කළ යුතුව තිබේ. ඒ අනුව, මෙම ඉදි කිරීම් කටයුතු පිරිමැවුම් කර, ඉදි කර, භාර දීමේ පදනම මත ඉංජිනේරුමය කාර්යයන් පිළිබඳ මධ්යම උපදේශක කාර්යාංශය/ඉංජිනේරු සේවා පුද්ගලික සමාගම වෙත පැවරීම පිණිස සෞඛ්ය, පෝෂණ හා දේශීය වෛද්ය අමාත්ය (වෛද්ය) රාජිත සේනාරත්න මැතිතුමා ඉදිරිපත් කළ යෝජනාව අමාත්ය මණ්ඩලය විසින් අනුමත කරන ලදී.
- http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.lk/cab...icle&id=15&Itemid=49&lang=si&dDate=2017-05-09
- ආයෝජන අවස්ථා ඉහළ නැංවීම සහ ආර්ථික හා තාක්ෂණික සහයෝගිතාව වැඩිදියුණු කිරීමේ අරමුණින් අවබෝධතා ගිවිසුමකට මහජන චීන සමූහාණ්ඩුවේ වාණිජ අමාත්යාංශය සහ ශ්රී ලංකා ප්රජාතාන්ත්රික සමාජවාදී ජනරජයේ සංවර්ධන උපාය මාර්ග හා ජාත්යන්තර වෙළඳ අමාත්යාංශය විසින් 2016.04.07 දින අත්සත් තබනු ලැබ තිබේ. එම අවබෝධතා ගිවිසුම යටතේ හඳුනා ගන්නා ලද ප්රමුඛතා ව්යාපෘති මත පදනම්ව සකස් කරනු ලැබ ඇති කාර්ය රාමු ගිවිසුමකට හා මධ්ය හා දිගුකාලීන සැලසුම් ආකෘතියකට ශ්රී ලංකාව සහ චීනය අතර අත්සන් තැබීම සඳහා සංවර්ධන උපායමාර්ග හා ජාත්යන්තර වෙළඳ අමාත්ය මලික් සමරවික්රම මැතිතුමා ඉදිරිපත් කළ යෝජනාව අමාත්ය මණ්ඩලය විසින් අනුමත කරන ලදී.
ශ්රී ලංකාවේ ඩොප්ලර් රේඩාර් ජාලයක් ස්ථාපනය කිරීම
- ව්යසනකාරි කාලගුණික සංසිද්ධීන් හඳුනාගෙන නිවැරදි අනාවැකි ජනතාවට ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට හැකි වන පරිදි කාලගුණ විද්යා දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ ඩොප්ලර් රේඩාර් ජාලයක් ස්ථාපනය කිරීම සඳහා ජපන් යෙන් මිලියන 2,503ක් (ආසන්න වශයෙන් රුපියල් මිලියන 3,422ක්) ප්රදානයක් වශයෙන් ජපාන ජාත්යන්තර සහයෝගිතා ආයතනය (JICA) මඟින් ලබා දීමට ජපාන රජය එකඟතාව පළ කරනු ලැබ තිබේ. ඒ සඳහා හුවමාරු පත්ර අත්සන් කිරීමට හා ප්රදාන ආධාර ගිවිසුමකට එළඹීම පිණිස ජාතික ප්රතිපත්ති හා ආර්ථික කටයුතු අමාත්යතුමා වශයෙන් ගරු අග්රාමාත්ය රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ මැතිතුමා ඉදිරිපත් කළ යෝජනාව අමාත්ය මණ්ඩලය විසින් අනුමත කරන ලදී.
ගංවතුර අවම කිරීමේ ව්යාපෘති ක්රියාත්මක කිරීම - 2017
- 2010 වර්ෂයේ නොවැම්බර් මාසයේ ඇති වූ අධික වර්ෂාව හේතුවෙන් කොළඹ නගරයේ ඇති වූ ගංවතුර තත්ත්වයෙන් පසු කොළඹ නගරය සහ තදාසන්න ප්රදේශවල ගංවතුර අවම කිරීමේ ප්රයත්නයන් ගණනාවක් ශ්රී ලංකා ඉඩම් ගොඩකිරීමේ හා සංවර්ධනය කිරීමේ සංස්ථාව විසින් ක්රියාත්මක කරනු ලැබ ඇත. ඒ අනුව, 2016 වර්ෂය තුළ ගංවතුර අවම කිරීමේ ව්යාපෘති සඳහා රුපියල් මිලියන 3,500ක් වෙන් කරන ලදී. 2017 වර්ෂය වෙනුවෙන් රුපියල් මිලියන 3,700ක ඇස්තමේන්තුගත පිරිවැයක් යටතේ ජල පොම්පාගාර ඉදි කිරීම, වගුරු බිම් සංරක්ෂණය, ගංවතුර තත්ත්ව අධ්යයන ආදී ගංවතුර අවම කිරීමේ ව්යාපෘති ක්රියාත්මක කෙරෙන අතර ඉන් ඇතැම් ව්යාපෘති දැනටමත් ආරම්භ කරනු ලැබ තිබේ. ඒ අනුව, මේ වන විට ක්රියාත්මක කෙරෙමින් පවතින ගංවතුර පාලන ව්යාපෘති ඉදිරියට ක්රියාත්මක කර ගෙන යාම පිණිස මහානගර හා බස්නාහිර සංවර්ධන අමාත්ය පාඨලී චම්පික රණවක මැතිතුමා ඉදිරිපත් කළ යෝජනාව අමාත්ය මණ්ඩලය විසින් ප්රතිපත්තිමය වශයෙන් අනුමත කරන ලදී.
මහනුවර උතුර - පාතදුම්බර ඒකාබද්ධ ජල සම්පාදන ව්යාපෘතිය
- මහනුවර උතුර - පාතදුම්බර ඒකාබද්ධ ජල සම්පාදන ව්යාපෘතිය මඟින් පාතදුම්බර, පූජාපිටිය, අකුරණ, හාරිස්පත්තුව, ගඟවටකෝරළේ හා තුම්පනේ යන ප්රාදේශීය ලේකම් කොට්ඨාස 6ක ජනතාව වෙත සුරක්ෂිත පානීය ජල සම්පාදන පහසුකම් සැපයීමට අපේක්ෂා කෙරේ. මෙම ව්යාපෘතිය ක්රියාත්මක කිරීම සඳහා වාණිජ කොන්ත්රාත්තුවලට එළඹීම පිණිස දැනටමත් අමාත්ය මණ්ඩලය විසින් අනුමැතිය ලබා දෙනු ලැබ තිබේ. එම ව්යාපෘතියේ මුළු පිරිවැය ආවරණය වන පරිදි සහනශීලි ණය මුදලක් ලබා දීමට චීනයේ අපනයනය ආනයන බැංකුව (EXIM Bank of China) එකඟ වී ඇත. ඒ අනුව, එම ණය මුදල ලබාගැනීම සදහා ණය ගිවිසුමකට එළඹීම පිණිස ජාතික ප්රතිපත්ති හා ආර්ථික කටයුතු අමාත්යතුමා වශයෙන් ගරු අග්රාමාත්ය රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ මැතිතුමා ඉදිරිපත් කළ යෝජනාව අමාත්ය මණ්ඩලය විසින් අනුමත කරන ලදී.
හැඩ ඔය ජල සම්පාදන ව්යාපෘතිය ක්රියාත්මක කිරීම
- ලාහුගල, පොතුවිල්, පානම සහ සියඹලාණ්ඩුව යන ප්රදේශවල පදිංචි ජනතාවට සහ පොතුවිල් හා පානම සංචාරක කලාප සඳහා පානීය ජලය සපයනු ලබන ප්රධාන ජල මූලාශ්රය වන හැඩ ඔයෙහි වර්තමානයේ පවතින ජල ප්රවාහය එම පානීය ජල ඉල්ලුම සැපයීම සඳහා ප්රමාණත් නොවේ. හැඩ ඔය හරස් කර ජලාශයක් ඉදි කිරීමේ ව්යාපෘතිය ක්රියාත්මක කිරීම සඳහා අමාත්ය මණ්ඩලය විසින් දැනටමත් අනුමැතිය ලබා දෙනු ලැබ ඇති අතර, ඊට සමගාමීව හැඩ ඔය ජල සම්පාදන ව්යාපෘතිය ක්රියාත්මක කිරීම සඳහා 'ස්විස් චැලෙන්ජ්' ප්රසම්පාදන ක්රමය අනුගමනය කරමින් සුදුසු කොන්ත්රාත්කරුවකු තෝරා ගැනීම පිණිස නගර සැලසුම් හා ජල සම්පාදන අමාත්ය රවුෆ් හකීම් මැතිතුමා ඉදිරිපත් කළ යෝජනාව අමාත්ය මණ්ඩලය විසින් අනුමත කරන ලදී.
දැනට ක්රියාත්මක කෙරෙමින් පවතින වාරි ව්යාපෘති කිහිපයක වැඩ කඩිනමින් නිම කිරීම
- මිනිපේ වම් ඉවුර පුනරුත්ථාපනය, කිතුල් ජලාශය හා රූගම් ජලාශය ව්යාපෘති, කුඹක්කන් ඔය ජලාශ ව්යාපෘතිය හා මන්නාරම තරාපුරම් වැව යන ව්යාපෘති සඳහා රුපියල් මිලියන 600ක් 2017 අයවැය මඟින් වෙන් කරනු ලැබ තිබේ. එම ප්රතිපාදනවලින් රුපියල් මිලියන 300ක් දැනටමත් මහ භාණ්ඩාගාරය විසින් නිදහස් කරනු ලැබ තිබේ. ආසියානු සංවර්ධන බැංකු අරමුදල් යටතේ ක්රියාත්මක වන මහවැලි ජල සුරක්ෂිතතා වැඩසටහන මඟින් මිනිපේ වම් ඉවුරු ඇළෙහි වැඩ සඳහා දැනටමත් අරමුදල් වෙන් කරනු ලැබ ඇති බැවින් සහ කිතුල් ජලාශය හා රූගම් ජලාශය ව්යාපෘති සඳහා මේ වසරේ තවදුරටත් ප්රතිපාදන අවශ්ය නොවන බැවින් එකී රුපියල් මිලියන 300ක ප්රතිපාදන, දැනට ක්රියාත්මක කෙරෙමින් පවතින ගෝනගල තැන්න වැව ව්යාපෘතිය, ගුරුගල්ඔය වැව ව්යාපෘතිය, භූගත ජල අධීක්ෂණ පද්ධතිය ස්ථාපිත කිරීමේ නියමු ව්යාපෘතිය සහ වෙල්ලස්ස නවෝදය ව්යාපෘතියේ මොනරාගල දිස්ත්රික් යටිතල පහසුකම් නැංවීම යන ව්යාපෘතිවල වැඩ නිම කිරීම සඳහා භාවිත කිරීම පිණිස වාරිමාර්ග හා ජලසම්පත් කළමනාකරණ අමාත්ය විජිත් විජයමුණි සොයිසා මැතිතුමා ඉදිරිපත් කළ යෝජනාව අමාත්ය මණ්ඩලය විසින් අනුමත කරන ලදී.
උතුරු හා නැඟෙනහිර පළාත්වල පෙරසවි නිවාස ඉදි කිරීම
- උතුරු හා නැඟෙනහිර පළාත්වල යුද්ධයෙන් පීඩාවට පත් අවතැන් වූ පවුල් සඳහා නිවාස ලබා දීමේ අරමුණින් ක්රියාත්මක කිරීමට යෝජනා වී ඇති පෙරසවි නිවාස ඉදි කිරීමේ ව්යාපෘතිය නැවත ඇගයීමට ලක් කිරීම සඳහා පත් කරනු ලැබූ විශේෂ ව්යාපෘති අමාත්ය ආචාර්ය සරත් අමුණුගම මැතිතුමාගේ නිර්දේශ මත පදනම්ව මූලික වශයෙන් එක් නිවසක් රුපියල් මිලියන 1.5ක පිරිවැයක් යටතේ නිවාස 6,000ක් ඉදි කිරීම පිණිස ආර්ථික කළමනාකරණය පිළිබඳ අමාත්ය මණ්ඩල කාරක සභාව විසින් නිර්දේශ කරනු ලැබ තිබේ. ඒ අනුව, පෙරසවි නිවාස 6,000ක් ඉදි කිරීමටත්, අවතැන් පවුල්වල ඉල්ලීම හා එකඟතාව මත එකී ඉදි කරනු ලබන නිවාස ලබා දීමටත් බන්ධනාගාර ප්රතිසංස්කරණ, පුනරුත්ථාපන, නැවත පදිංචි කිරීම හා හින්දු ආගමික කටයුතු අමාත්ය ඩී.එම්.ස්වාමිනාදන් මැතිතුමා ඉදිරිපත් කළ යෝජනාව අමාත්ය මණ්ඩලය විසින් අනුමත කරන ලදී. එමෙන්ම උතුරු හා නැඟෙනහිර පළාත්වල යුද ගැටුම් නිසා අවතැන් වූ පවුල් සඳහා ගඩොල් හා සිමෙන්ති භාවිතයෙන් ඉදි කිරීමට යෝජිත නිවාස 59,000ක ව්යාපෘතිය ක්රියාත්මක කළ යුතු ආකාරය පිළිබඳව නිර්දේශ ඉදිරිපත් කිරීම සඳහා ඉහළ පෙළේ නිලධාරි කමිටුවක් පත් කිරීමටත් තීරණය කරන ලදී.
කළුතර මහ රෝහලේ හදිසි අනතුරු හා හදිසි වෛද්ය ප්රතිකාර ඒකකයේ දෙවන අදියර ඉදි කිරීම
- කළුතර දිස්ත්රික්කයේ පිහිටි ප්රධානතම රෝහල වන කළුතර මහ රෝහලේ හදිසි අනතුරු හා හදිසි වෛද්ය ප්රතිකාර ඒකකයේ ඉදි කිරීම් කටයුතු 2015 වර්ෂයේදී ආරම්භ කරනු ලැබ තිබේ. අදාළ ගොඩනැඟිල්ලේ පළමු අදියරේ ඉදි කිරීම් කටයුතු මේ වන විට සිදු කෙරෙමින් පවතින අතර එහි තුන්වන සහ හතරවන මහල්වල ඉදි කිරීම් කටයුතු ඇතුළත් දෙවන අදියරේ වැඩකටයුතු කඩිනමින් ආරම්භ කළ යුතුව තිබේ. ඒ අනුව, මෙම ඉදි කිරීම් කටයුතු පිරිමැවුම් කර, ඉදි කර, භාර දීමේ පදනම මත ඉංජිනේරුමය කාර්යයන් පිළිබඳ මධ්යම උපදේශක කාර්යාංශය/ඉංජිනේරු සේවා පුද්ගලික සමාගම වෙත පැවරීම පිණිස සෞඛ්ය, පෝෂණ හා දේශීය වෛද්ය අමාත්ය (වෛද්ය) රාජිත සේනාරත්න මැතිතුමා ඉදිරිපත් කළ යෝජනාව අමාත්ය මණ්ඩලය විසින් අනුමත කරන ලදී.
- http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.lk/cab...icle&id=15&Itemid=49&lang=si&dDate=2017-05-09
ADB doubles lending to SL
Charumini de Silva reporting from Yokohama, Japan
As promised by Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Takehiko Nakao during his visit to Sri Lanka last year, the bank yesterday confirmed that it has doubled its lending capacity to $ 800 million this year.
“Sri Lanka’s annual allocation was around $ 400 million per year and this year it has been increased to $ 800 million. We have just doubled the lending. This is the highest we have allocated to the country,” ADB South Asia Department Director General Hun Kim said at a media briefing held on the sidelines of the 50th ADB Annual Meeting in Yokohama, Japan.
As far as infrastructure development was concerned, he said that Sri Lanka was a good example of high-quality infrastructure in the South Asian region, saying it was time that the country scaled up to advanced infrastructure development projects.
“Sri Lanka already has quality infrastructure, it just needs to have advanced infrastructure, which could fast-track the next phase of development of the economy,” he added.
However, he pointed out that transportation remained a key challenge in Sri Lanka’s development process, asserting that ADB was currently collaborating with the Sri Lankan Government on developing a railway master plan, which is scheduled to commence next year with a funding facility of over $ 1 billion.
“As an infrastructure development bank, ADB is more into bigger and national level development in the country. The first phase of the railway master plan will be around $ 300 million, which will commence next year,” he added.
While commending Sri Lanka for its efforts in power generation, he said that there are concerns over the stability of power in the long term, and that ADB was keen on supporting Sri Lanka on renewable energy projects in the future.
“Depending on the project readiness, ADB is ready to fund infrastructure development in Sri Lanka,” he said, adding that Sri Lanka was one of the countries which had benefited the most and was the fastest to receive funds from ADB.
Stating that foreign direct investment (FDI) was a key driver of growth in South East Asia, Kim said that Sri Lanka has the scope to attract more FDIs.
“Except India, FDIs in other countries in South Asia are low. FDI and exports are two areas where Sri Lanka has an opportunity to gather faster economic growth,” he stated.
He also said that the bank was involved in major development projects in Sri Lanka, including the flagship project the Western Region Megapolis, Trincomalee industrial development program and Colombo Port East Container Terminal advisory services.
In addition, he said that ADB has commenced a rural road development program worth $ 1 billion, which will help Sri Lanka to connect every small village. ADB is also working on capital market development to mobilise more funds towards the economy.
- http://www.ft.lk/article/613831/ADB-doubles-lending-to-SL
- Support commitment increased from $ 400 m to record $ 800 m
- Commends SL for high-quality infrastructure
- $ 1 b railway master plan to commence work next year
- Urges more FDI, exports
Charumini de Silva reporting from Yokohama, Japan
As promised by Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Takehiko Nakao during his visit to Sri Lanka last year, the bank yesterday confirmed that it has doubled its lending capacity to $ 800 million this year.
“Sri Lanka’s annual allocation was around $ 400 million per year and this year it has been increased to $ 800 million. We have just doubled the lending. This is the highest we have allocated to the country,” ADB South Asia Department Director General Hun Kim said at a media briefing held on the sidelines of the 50th ADB Annual Meeting in Yokohama, Japan.
As far as infrastructure development was concerned, he said that Sri Lanka was a good example of high-quality infrastructure in the South Asian region, saying it was time that the country scaled up to advanced infrastructure development projects.
“Sri Lanka already has quality infrastructure, it just needs to have advanced infrastructure, which could fast-track the next phase of development of the economy,” he added.
However, he pointed out that transportation remained a key challenge in Sri Lanka’s development process, asserting that ADB was currently collaborating with the Sri Lankan Government on developing a railway master plan, which is scheduled to commence next year with a funding facility of over $ 1 billion.
“As an infrastructure development bank, ADB is more into bigger and national level development in the country. The first phase of the railway master plan will be around $ 300 million, which will commence next year,” he added.
While commending Sri Lanka for its efforts in power generation, he said that there are concerns over the stability of power in the long term, and that ADB was keen on supporting Sri Lanka on renewable energy projects in the future.
“Depending on the project readiness, ADB is ready to fund infrastructure development in Sri Lanka,” he said, adding that Sri Lanka was one of the countries which had benefited the most and was the fastest to receive funds from ADB.
Stating that foreign direct investment (FDI) was a key driver of growth in South East Asia, Kim said that Sri Lanka has the scope to attract more FDIs.
“Except India, FDIs in other countries in South Asia are low. FDI and exports are two areas where Sri Lanka has an opportunity to gather faster economic growth,” he stated.
He also said that the bank was involved in major development projects in Sri Lanka, including the flagship project the Western Region Megapolis, Trincomalee industrial development program and Colombo Port East Container Terminal advisory services.
In addition, he said that ADB has commenced a rural road development program worth $ 1 billion, which will help Sri Lanka to connect every small village. ADB is also working on capital market development to mobilise more funds towards the economy.
- http://www.ft.lk/article/613831/ADB-doubles-lending-to-SL
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Seafood exporters welcome GSP+ restoration
The Seafood Exporters Association (SEA) yesterday welcomed Sri Lanka’s achievement of regaining the GSP+ concession from the European Union.
SEA said Sri Lanka faced a major setback in fish exports due to the EU ban and the removal of GSP+.
“Fish exports from Sri Lanka went down drastically and we lost our market share to our competitors in Maldives, Vietnam and Indonesia. It was not only the seafood exporters that were affected due to this EU ban and removal of GSP+, it also affected the chain of people that were involved down the line from the fishermen and their families to the boat owners that were a link to fish exports.
The GSP+ will help us to increase the export volumes, bring in additional revenue to the country and once again we will be placed on the threshold of being the number one tuna exporter from Asia to the EU,” SEA said.
After the lifting of the EU fishing ban on Sri Lanka, GSP+ was the next big thing which the SEA expected to come. Sri Lanka became eligible to apply for this facility after the EU ban was lifted. The Government of Sri Lanka, spearheaded by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, worked hard on the application process and SEA with its members were confident that the Sri Lankan Government would receive a positive response from the EU Commission and would be successful in getting the GSP+ back in 2017 and they have accomplished that, the association said. It added that this was going to be a complete game-changer in the region.
The team that worked hard to lift the EU ban continued with the same spirit to bring about a truly international seafood export industry in Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lankan Government, Department of Commerce and the Foreign Ministry of Sri Lanka and other related agencies worked around the clock to do the balance, what was expected to come was the GSP+ facility.
GSP+ will pave the way for increased exports with zero duty access and will help the country realise the dream of the Sri Lankan Government to achieve $ 1.5 billion in seafood exports within the next four years.
The statement also said the Seafood Exporters Association of Sri Lanka sincerely thanked the Government of Sri Lanka, President Sirisena, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, the Department of Commerce and the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry for working towards this achievement.
- http://www.ft.lk/article/614722/Seafood-exporters-welcome-GSP--restoration
The Seafood Exporters Association (SEA) yesterday welcomed Sri Lanka’s achievement of regaining the GSP+ concession from the European Union.
SEA said Sri Lanka faced a major setback in fish exports due to the EU ban and the removal of GSP+.
“Fish exports from Sri Lanka went down drastically and we lost our market share to our competitors in Maldives, Vietnam and Indonesia. It was not only the seafood exporters that were affected due to this EU ban and removal of GSP+, it also affected the chain of people that were involved down the line from the fishermen and their families to the boat owners that were a link to fish exports.
The GSP+ will help us to increase the export volumes, bring in additional revenue to the country and once again we will be placed on the threshold of being the number one tuna exporter from Asia to the EU,” SEA said.
After the lifting of the EU fishing ban on Sri Lanka, GSP+ was the next big thing which the SEA expected to come. Sri Lanka became eligible to apply for this facility after the EU ban was lifted. The Government of Sri Lanka, spearheaded by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, worked hard on the application process and SEA with its members were confident that the Sri Lankan Government would receive a positive response from the EU Commission and would be successful in getting the GSP+ back in 2017 and they have accomplished that, the association said. It added that this was going to be a complete game-changer in the region.
The team that worked hard to lift the EU ban continued with the same spirit to bring about a truly international seafood export industry in Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lankan Government, Department of Commerce and the Foreign Ministry of Sri Lanka and other related agencies worked around the clock to do the balance, what was expected to come was the GSP+ facility.
GSP+ will pave the way for increased exports with zero duty access and will help the country realise the dream of the Sri Lankan Government to achieve $ 1.5 billion in seafood exports within the next four years.
The statement also said the Seafood Exporters Association of Sri Lanka sincerely thanked the Government of Sri Lanka, President Sirisena, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, the Department of Commerce and the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry for working towards this achievement.
- http://www.ft.lk/article/614722/Seafood-exporters-welcome-GSP--restoration
Sri Lanka, China to sign framework agreement
14 May, 2017
By Zara Imtiaz
Three weeks after signing a significant framework agreement with India to cooperate on economic matters, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will oversee a similar agreement with China during his current visit to Beijing.
To be signed between the Ministry of Commerce of China and the Ministry of Development Strategies and International Trade, the agreement, initially drafted by the Chinese with revisions from Sri Lanka, was approved by the Cabinet last week, just before the arrival of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Sri Lanka and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe´s departure to Beijing yesterday. According to Ministry of Development Strategies and International Trade, Minister Malik Samarawickrema had already signed the Sri Lankan copy and had sent it to the Chinese Embassy before his departure to Beijing as per normal diplomatic procedures.
Titled the Outline of Medium and Long-term Development Plan for Investment, Economic and Technological Cooperation, the agreement envisages providing transparent legal foundations, institutional environments and favourable investment conditions for a number of priority areas, including agriculture, manufacturing, transportation infrastructure, public works, energy, electric power, information communication, tourism, and urban construction with a list of identified projects annexed to the agreement as priority projects.
These projects include:
The list includes an estimated cost for some of the items of US$2.76 billion.
This costs excludes the entirety of the Hambanthota Port projects, the Colombo Port City project, the Ratnapura Expressway and the Heda Oya Water Supply.
The agreement envisages a bigger role for commercial finance while acknowledging the ‘function of’ preferential loans. Funding for projects will be through preferential loans, joint financing, guarantees, medium and long term insurance and other forms, the agreement states. The agreement envisages policy support from China to improve Sri Lanka´s investment policy framework including support for investment policies relating to land, taxation, visas, working permits and to further improve the investment environment to attract more Chinese enterprises to invest in Sri Lanka.
The agreement also envisages the establishment of financial institutions and banks from the respective countries in the other and promotion of delivery of financial products and services to each other´s financial markets. Currently, both Sri Lanka and China has entry barriers in the financial sectors.
In a similar framework agreement signed in the last week of April in Delhi, Sri Lanka and India identified a number of other priority projects. These include:
A regasified Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) fired 500 megawatt capacity LNG Power Plant; An LNG Terminal / Floating Storage Regasification Unit (FSRU) in Kerawalapitiya/Colombo; a piped gas distribution system; retail outlets for supply of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to the transportation sector; and conversion of liquid fuel-based power plants to R-LNG fired power plants in Sri Lanka. A 50 MW (extendable to 100 MW) Solar Power Plant in Sampur. Upper Tank Farm in Trincomalee to be jointly developed by India (Lanka IOC PLC) and Sri Lanka (Ceylon Petroleum corporation or CPC). The land of the Lower Tank Farm, which is also in possession of Lanka IOC PLC, pursuant to the 2003 Agreement, to be leased to Lanka IOC directly.
A Port, Petroleum Refinery and other industries in Trincomalee.
Industrial Zones/Special Economic Zones in identified locations in Sri Lanka. Mannar-Jaffna and Mannar-Trincomalee Highways and Dambulla-Trincomalee Expressway under Indian investments.
The railway sector development including new projects of track upgradation and purchase of rolling stock, A Container Terminal in Colombo Port as a Joint Venture, which includes Indian investments considering that majority of transshipment in Colombo Port is related to India.
Agricultural sector and livestock development through techno-economic cooperation, water management, and promotion of agro-based industries. In the aftermath of the signing of the Indo-Lanka framework agreement, Indian foreign ministry spokesman Gopal Baglay was quoted in Indian media as stating:
“The (Modi) government is internally focused on ‘Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas’ (development for all) and externally too in the neighbourhood, our vision to promote connectivity and development takes ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’ to our external environment, and naturally to the neighborhood first. In this backdrop, with the objective to achieve greater economic, investment and development cooperation in a progressive manner.... the two governments signed this Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Economic Projects.” Sources indicate that the two framework agreements are the culmination of over two years of work on a strategy announced through the UNP´s election manifesto to create an ‘investment corridor’ linking Sri Lanka´s nearest neighbour and one of its biggest trading partners with the regional strategy of China´s one-belt, one-road initiative.
Prime Minister Wickremesinghe elaborated his vision of the investment corridor during his visit to New Zealand in October last year, speaking on the theme of ‘Sri Lanka and its place in the world’.
Stating that with its two billion population, South Asia is a considerable market with growing significance, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe outlined the reasons for creating the North-South link, an investment corridor through Sri Lanka.
“Sri Lanka’s situation in the nautical corridor between the East and West is of import not only from a geostrategic perspective, but also from maritime economic and security perspectives. On the one hand, the Indian Ocean is a vast source of maritime economic resources, on the other; it is a maritime trading corridor through which nearly two thirds of the world’s oil is transported.
“In our perspective, the Indian Ocean remains key to Asian prosperity. An Indian Ocean order, which envisages at its core an ocean free of conflict despite competing economic interests - with lanes of communication, ease and safety of passage, freedom of navigation, secure and sustainable use of resources for the economic advancement of States in an equitable manner is imperative.
To fully tap this potential, Sri Lanka will engage in initiatives with regional players who have major economic stakes in the Indian Ocean,” the Prime Minister said.
- http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2017/05/14/news/sri-lanka-china-sign-framework-agreement
14 May, 2017
By Zara Imtiaz
Three weeks after signing a significant framework agreement with India to cooperate on economic matters, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will oversee a similar agreement with China during his current visit to Beijing.
To be signed between the Ministry of Commerce of China and the Ministry of Development Strategies and International Trade, the agreement, initially drafted by the Chinese with revisions from Sri Lanka, was approved by the Cabinet last week, just before the arrival of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Sri Lanka and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe´s departure to Beijing yesterday. According to Ministry of Development Strategies and International Trade, Minister Malik Samarawickrema had already signed the Sri Lankan copy and had sent it to the Chinese Embassy before his departure to Beijing as per normal diplomatic procedures.
Titled the Outline of Medium and Long-term Development Plan for Investment, Economic and Technological Cooperation, the agreement envisages providing transparent legal foundations, institutional environments and favourable investment conditions for a number of priority areas, including agriculture, manufacturing, transportation infrastructure, public works, energy, electric power, information communication, tourism, and urban construction with a list of identified projects annexed to the agreement as priority projects.
These projects include:
- Central Expressway – Section 1 from Kadwatha to Mirigama
- Kandy North Pathakumbura Water Supply Scheme
- Talpitigala Reservoir Project
- Polonnaruwa Integrated Development Project: East Polonnaruwa Water Supply, Agro Economic Centre Project, Section 4 of Central Expressway,
- New Railway track from Kurunegala to Habarana via Dambulla
- Waste water disposal systems for Chilaw, Puttlam, Maharagama and Boralesgamuwa
- Upgrading of health facilities in selected hospitals
- Lower Malwathu Oya Project
- Thambuthegamuwa Water Supply
- Katana Water Supply
- Hambanthota Port: Operations, Shipyard, Operation of docks and rear oil tank area, Oil refinery, LNG receiving station and combined cycle power station, Industrial Park, Colombo International Financial City (Port City)
- Ratnapura Expressway
- Heda Oya Water Supply
The list includes an estimated cost for some of the items of US$2.76 billion.
This costs excludes the entirety of the Hambanthota Port projects, the Colombo Port City project, the Ratnapura Expressway and the Heda Oya Water Supply.
The agreement envisages a bigger role for commercial finance while acknowledging the ‘function of’ preferential loans. Funding for projects will be through preferential loans, joint financing, guarantees, medium and long term insurance and other forms, the agreement states. The agreement envisages policy support from China to improve Sri Lanka´s investment policy framework including support for investment policies relating to land, taxation, visas, working permits and to further improve the investment environment to attract more Chinese enterprises to invest in Sri Lanka.
The agreement also envisages the establishment of financial institutions and banks from the respective countries in the other and promotion of delivery of financial products and services to each other´s financial markets. Currently, both Sri Lanka and China has entry barriers in the financial sectors.
In a similar framework agreement signed in the last week of April in Delhi, Sri Lanka and India identified a number of other priority projects. These include:
A regasified Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) fired 500 megawatt capacity LNG Power Plant; An LNG Terminal / Floating Storage Regasification Unit (FSRU) in Kerawalapitiya/Colombo; a piped gas distribution system; retail outlets for supply of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to the transportation sector; and conversion of liquid fuel-based power plants to R-LNG fired power plants in Sri Lanka. A 50 MW (extendable to 100 MW) Solar Power Plant in Sampur. Upper Tank Farm in Trincomalee to be jointly developed by India (Lanka IOC PLC) and Sri Lanka (Ceylon Petroleum corporation or CPC). The land of the Lower Tank Farm, which is also in possession of Lanka IOC PLC, pursuant to the 2003 Agreement, to be leased to Lanka IOC directly.
A Port, Petroleum Refinery and other industries in Trincomalee.
Industrial Zones/Special Economic Zones in identified locations in Sri Lanka. Mannar-Jaffna and Mannar-Trincomalee Highways and Dambulla-Trincomalee Expressway under Indian investments.
The railway sector development including new projects of track upgradation and purchase of rolling stock, A Container Terminal in Colombo Port as a Joint Venture, which includes Indian investments considering that majority of transshipment in Colombo Port is related to India.
Agricultural sector and livestock development through techno-economic cooperation, water management, and promotion of agro-based industries. In the aftermath of the signing of the Indo-Lanka framework agreement, Indian foreign ministry spokesman Gopal Baglay was quoted in Indian media as stating:
“The (Modi) government is internally focused on ‘Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas’ (development for all) and externally too in the neighbourhood, our vision to promote connectivity and development takes ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’ to our external environment, and naturally to the neighborhood first. In this backdrop, with the objective to achieve greater economic, investment and development cooperation in a progressive manner.... the two governments signed this Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Economic Projects.” Sources indicate that the two framework agreements are the culmination of over two years of work on a strategy announced through the UNP´s election manifesto to create an ‘investment corridor’ linking Sri Lanka´s nearest neighbour and one of its biggest trading partners with the regional strategy of China´s one-belt, one-road initiative.
Prime Minister Wickremesinghe elaborated his vision of the investment corridor during his visit to New Zealand in October last year, speaking on the theme of ‘Sri Lanka and its place in the world’.
Stating that with its two billion population, South Asia is a considerable market with growing significance, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe outlined the reasons for creating the North-South link, an investment corridor through Sri Lanka.
“Sri Lanka’s situation in the nautical corridor between the East and West is of import not only from a geostrategic perspective, but also from maritime economic and security perspectives. On the one hand, the Indian Ocean is a vast source of maritime economic resources, on the other; it is a maritime trading corridor through which nearly two thirds of the world’s oil is transported.
“In our perspective, the Indian Ocean remains key to Asian prosperity. An Indian Ocean order, which envisages at its core an ocean free of conflict despite competing economic interests - with lanes of communication, ease and safety of passage, freedom of navigation, secure and sustainable use of resources for the economic advancement of States in an equitable manner is imperative.
To fully tap this potential, Sri Lanka will engage in initiatives with regional players who have major economic stakes in the Indian Ocean,” the Prime Minister said.
- http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2017/05/14/news/sri-lanka-china-sign-framework-agreement
Indian aid to expand ambulance service islandwide
India will grant US$20 million to expand the free ambulance service islandwide within an year.
The money will cover the cost of a new fleet of 215 ambulances as well as the salaries of 1,500 people who will be employed for the service, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Harsha De Silva said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the expansion of the ambulance service when he addressed members of the estate community at the Norwood Grounds in Hatton. The ambulance service currently operates in the Western and Southern provinces.
The Deputy Minister said that at the end of the year when the Indian funding ends, the service would operate with funds from the Treasury. “We would need to have a mechanism in place to keep the ambulance service running,” he said.
The Deputy Minister who met the Indian Prime Minister at the departure lounge of the airport on Friday said he had extended his gratitude to the Indian Government for helping out with the service which had become a boon to many people in the country.
At present there are 89 ambulances that operate with 570 personnel. The programme began with a grant from India of US$7.5 million.
Since its commencement in 2016, the ambulance service has clocked in more than 20,000 transfers of patients including those suffering from heart attacks, accident victims and maternity cases while 13 of these ambulances also operated during the Meethotamulla tragedy transferring patients.
- http://www.sundaytimes.lk/170514/news/indian-aid-to-expand-ambulance-service-islandwide-240223.html
India will grant US$20 million to expand the free ambulance service islandwide within an year.
The money will cover the cost of a new fleet of 215 ambulances as well as the salaries of 1,500 people who will be employed for the service, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Harsha De Silva said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the expansion of the ambulance service when he addressed members of the estate community at the Norwood Grounds in Hatton. The ambulance service currently operates in the Western and Southern provinces.
The Deputy Minister said that at the end of the year when the Indian funding ends, the service would operate with funds from the Treasury. “We would need to have a mechanism in place to keep the ambulance service running,” he said.
The Deputy Minister who met the Indian Prime Minister at the departure lounge of the airport on Friday said he had extended his gratitude to the Indian Government for helping out with the service which had become a boon to many people in the country.
At present there are 89 ambulances that operate with 570 personnel. The programme began with a grant from India of US$7.5 million.
Since its commencement in 2016, the ambulance service has clocked in more than 20,000 transfers of patients including those suffering from heart attacks, accident victims and maternity cases while 13 of these ambulances also operated during the Meethotamulla tragedy transferring patients.
- http://www.sundaytimes.lk/170514/news/indian-aid-to-expand-ambulance-service-islandwide-240223.html
India commits $ 318 m for SL’s railway sector
India has committed further assistance of up to $ 318 million to Sri Lanka’s railway sector, Indian Premier Narendra Modi told lawmakers during his visit to Sri Lanka last week.
“We will continue our development partnership.
“We will be guided by your Government. And, we will do so with the same level of transparency that we expect in our own country,” the premier said.
He also made reference to the agreement signed between the two countries on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
“More than anywhere else in the region, I see enormous potential to expand cooperation with Sri Lanka in areas such as agriculture, education, health, science and technology, and space. Indeed, we are limited only by our imagination,” Modi said. The Indian premier pledged to commence direct flights between Colombo and Benares (Varanasi) to strengthen bilateral ties between the two countries.
- http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2017/05/14/business/india-commits-318-m-sl’s-railway-sector
India has committed further assistance of up to $ 318 million to Sri Lanka’s railway sector, Indian Premier Narendra Modi told lawmakers during his visit to Sri Lanka last week.
“We will continue our development partnership.
“We will be guided by your Government. And, we will do so with the same level of transparency that we expect in our own country,” the premier said.
He also made reference to the agreement signed between the two countries on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
“More than anywhere else in the region, I see enormous potential to expand cooperation with Sri Lanka in areas such as agriculture, education, health, science and technology, and space. Indeed, we are limited only by our imagination,” Modi said. The Indian premier pledged to commence direct flights between Colombo and Benares (Varanasi) to strengthen bilateral ties between the two countries.
- http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2017/05/14/business/india-commits-318-m-sl’s-railway-sector
Sri Lanka to exempt exports of IT, entrepôt trade, waste management from income tax
May 14, 2017 15:32 PM GMT+0530
ECONOMYNEXT - Sri Lanka will exempt from income tax several activities including, agriculture, entrepôt trade, solid waste management, information technology and business process outsourcing, Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said.
A new inland revenue act (income tax law) is going to be presented to parliament shortly.
International logistics, multi-country consolidation will be included in the so-called hub-activities like entrepot trade that will be exempt from income tax.
Sri Lanka's locational advantage as a transport hub had been blocked by a few rent-seeking oligopolists who have blocked foreign investment in shipping.
Several tea firms have also blocked the country from becoming an international hub for tea, despite advantages in logistics.
Profits from solid waste management, organic fertilizer, agriculture, poultry, dairy, export of gold, gem and jewellery will be exempt from income tax.
Export of services by individuals will also be exempt. (Colombo/May14/2017)
- http://www.economynext.com/Sri_Lank...aste_management_from_income_tax-3-7928-1.html
May 14, 2017 15:32 PM GMT+0530
ECONOMYNEXT - Sri Lanka will exempt from income tax several activities including, agriculture, entrepôt trade, solid waste management, information technology and business process outsourcing, Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said.
A new inland revenue act (income tax law) is going to be presented to parliament shortly.
International logistics, multi-country consolidation will be included in the so-called hub-activities like entrepot trade that will be exempt from income tax.
Sri Lanka's locational advantage as a transport hub had been blocked by a few rent-seeking oligopolists who have blocked foreign investment in shipping.
Several tea firms have also blocked the country from becoming an international hub for tea, despite advantages in logistics.
Profits from solid waste management, organic fertilizer, agriculture, poultry, dairy, export of gold, gem and jewellery will be exempt from income tax.
Export of services by individuals will also be exempt. (Colombo/May14/2017)
- http://www.economynext.com/Sri_Lank...aste_management_from_income_tax-3-7928-1.html
World Bank grants Sri Lanka US$ 100 million assistance to improve higher education
Sun, May 14, 2017, 08:38 am SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
May 14, Colombo: The World Bank Board of Directors Friday has approved US$100 million in financing to support Sri Lanka's higher education sector.
This new initiative will help increase enrollment in priority disciplines, improve the quality of degree programs and promote research and innovation in the higher education sector, the World Bank said in a statement.
Building on experience in the higher education sector since 2003, the new Accelerating Higher Education Expansion and Development (AHEAD) operation is the first in Sri Lanka to use the World Bank Program for Results lending instrument. This instrument focuses on building institutional capabilities to drive for sustainable development results.
"Sri Lanka's aspiration to rise to an Upper Middle Income Country status depends on how skilled and versatile its people are," said Idah Z. Pswarayi-Riddihough, World Bank County Director for Sri Lanka and Maldives.
"The higher education system must produce a pool of highly skilled scientists, engineers, doctors, entrepreneurs, policy makers, academics, and teachers, who can contribute to sustainable economic development of the country. Improving competitiveness and growth of the country is a key focus of the Sri Lankan Government and we are pleased to be supporting them in this endeavor."
According to the global lender, in 2014, Sri Lanka was ranked 88th of 115 countries for higher education participation. Moreover, Sri Lanka's higher education enrollment rate of 21 percent is well below the average rate of 23 percent in Lower Middle Income Countries; and 44 percent enrollment rate in Upper Middle Income Countries.
Sri Lanka particularly needs to improve student participation in disciplines of vital importance to economic development such as the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), the World Bank emphasizes.
A key focus area of the AHEAD project is to enable universities to expand modern teaching-learning and assessment methods which increase the academic quality of undergraduate degree programs, and the eventual social and economic contribution of graduates.
"This is a first of its kind results-driven operation in support of the Government's Higher Education Development Strategy," said Harsha Aturupane, Lead Education Specialist and Task Team Leader.
"Promoting research, development and innovation will be essential to expand knowledge and technology-intensive industries and services to meet Sri Lanka's aspirations to become an Upper Middle Income Country," he said.
An estimated 600,000 students across a variety of higher education institutions, and approximately 5,000 academics, managers, and technical staff members will benefit directly from this program over its 6-year implementation period, which ends in 2023.
Other beneficiaries of the program will include: the private sector and government who will be able to recruit better-qualified university graduates; future generations of university students and staff members who will benefit from the system-wide reforms and improvements; and the private and public sector institutions that benefit from the research and innovation activities.
The World Bank financing for this program includes a $67 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and a $33 million credit from the International Development Association (IDA).
The Ministry of Higher Education and Highways, University Grants Commission, and Sri Lanka Institute for the Advanced Technological Education will be the implementing partners at the national level. Fifteen public sector universities and Advanced Technological Institutes and non-state Higher Education Institutions will be the institutional level implementing partners.
- http://www.colombopage.com/archive_17A/May14_1494731339CH.php
Sun, May 14, 2017, 08:38 am SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
May 14, Colombo: The World Bank Board of Directors Friday has approved US$100 million in financing to support Sri Lanka's higher education sector.
This new initiative will help increase enrollment in priority disciplines, improve the quality of degree programs and promote research and innovation in the higher education sector, the World Bank said in a statement.
Building on experience in the higher education sector since 2003, the new Accelerating Higher Education Expansion and Development (AHEAD) operation is the first in Sri Lanka to use the World Bank Program for Results lending instrument. This instrument focuses on building institutional capabilities to drive for sustainable development results.
"Sri Lanka's aspiration to rise to an Upper Middle Income Country status depends on how skilled and versatile its people are," said Idah Z. Pswarayi-Riddihough, World Bank County Director for Sri Lanka and Maldives.
"The higher education system must produce a pool of highly skilled scientists, engineers, doctors, entrepreneurs, policy makers, academics, and teachers, who can contribute to sustainable economic development of the country. Improving competitiveness and growth of the country is a key focus of the Sri Lankan Government and we are pleased to be supporting them in this endeavor."
According to the global lender, in 2014, Sri Lanka was ranked 88th of 115 countries for higher education participation. Moreover, Sri Lanka's higher education enrollment rate of 21 percent is well below the average rate of 23 percent in Lower Middle Income Countries; and 44 percent enrollment rate in Upper Middle Income Countries.
Sri Lanka particularly needs to improve student participation in disciplines of vital importance to economic development such as the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), the World Bank emphasizes.
A key focus area of the AHEAD project is to enable universities to expand modern teaching-learning and assessment methods which increase the academic quality of undergraduate degree programs, and the eventual social and economic contribution of graduates.
"This is a first of its kind results-driven operation in support of the Government's Higher Education Development Strategy," said Harsha Aturupane, Lead Education Specialist and Task Team Leader.
"Promoting research, development and innovation will be essential to expand knowledge and technology-intensive industries and services to meet Sri Lanka's aspirations to become an Upper Middle Income Country," he said.
An estimated 600,000 students across a variety of higher education institutions, and approximately 5,000 academics, managers, and technical staff members will benefit directly from this program over its 6-year implementation period, which ends in 2023.
Other beneficiaries of the program will include: the private sector and government who will be able to recruit better-qualified university graduates; future generations of university students and staff members who will benefit from the system-wide reforms and improvements; and the private and public sector institutions that benefit from the research and innovation activities.
The World Bank financing for this program includes a $67 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and a $33 million credit from the International Development Association (IDA).
The Ministry of Higher Education and Highways, University Grants Commission, and Sri Lanka Institute for the Advanced Technological Education will be the implementing partners at the national level. Fifteen public sector universities and Advanced Technological Institutes and non-state Higher Education Institutions will be the institutional level implementing partners.
- http://www.colombopage.com/archive_17A/May14_1494731339CH.php
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