Rush to migrate to the US
Hundreds of Sri Lankans, keen on migrating to the US, crowded the hall of St Paul’s Milagiriya in Colombo on Wednesday to listen to a US embassy official explaining the system of the US ‘Diversity Visa’ lottery. Many have won this lottery every year which allows migration status. The US official is also seen in [...]
Errant drivers face suspension of their driving licences
Sri Lankan motorists will face a suspension of up to one year for violating road traffic regulations and reckless driving under a new Driver Improvement Points (DIP) system to be implemented by end November, Motor Traffic Commissioner General S. H. Harischandra said. This system will be introduced to tackle motor traffic violations effectively and reduce [...]
BT-RCB poll: City and rural folk differ on education issues
Diverse views, interestingly, emerged in the BT-RCB joint email-cum-street poll on education issues conducted this week, just as the struggle by university teachers over wages appeared to be resolved. While 93 per cent of those polled by email by the BT (Business Times) said there was a major crisis in education, just 58 per cent [...]
Credit extension fails to cheer Colombo bourse
Lifting of credit restrictions this week failed to cheer the Colombo share market which fell for four straight days this week, raising questions as to whether analysts got it wrong in saying earlier that lack of credit is a serious problem Tushan Wickramasinghe, Managing Director/CEO of Capital TRUST Securities (Pvt), among those who pushed for [...]
AMW to export tyres, secure vehicle agencies overseas
Associated Motorways (Pvt) Ltd (AMW) is venturing into export markets with its rubber tyres, while considering vehicle dealerships abroad with principals, officials said. “We’re already in discussion with our principals, trying to secure rights (agencies) with their principals to go to other countries,” Samantha Rajapaksa, Managing Director AMW told the Business Times. AMW has the [...]
Is there a right to strike?
I write with reference to the article which appeared in the Business Times of 7th October 2012 under the caption “Trade Unions urge amendments to law permitting right to strike”. It states that “a strong body of Trade Unions in the National Labour Advisory Council has urged the government to present laws to formalize the [...]
Education: Is it serving us efficiently?
In 1944 C.W.W. Kannangara, Minister of Education moving the ‘Free Education Bill ‘declared; “Sir, . How much nobler – when we shall be able to say that we found education dear and left it cheap, that we found it a sealed book and left it an open letter, we found it the patrimony of the [...]
Treasury takes it all
A Treasury plan unveiled this week on the collection of all taxes accruing to local authorities is a source of concern. According to the plan unveiled by Treasury Secretary Dr P.B. Jayasundera, all local authorities are to channel its annual tax collections to the Treasury or Consolidated Fund, a pooled resource which is shared for [...]
Sri Lanka expects to get into ’70s’ in Doing Business Ranking Index
The Central Bank (CB) is expecting to get into the ’70s’ in the Doing Business Index ranking for 2013, which will be released by the WB. World Bank later this month, CB officials said. “The Doing Business Index compiled by the World Bank and International Finance Corporation will be released on 23rd October by the [...]
Jetwing rewarded for its sustainable project design at Vil Uyana
Jetwing’s Vil Uyana was awarded for “Sustainable Project Design” in providing a luxurious resort guest experience in and environmentally friendly and sustainable manner from the Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific (HICAP). The Sustainable Project Design award at the 2012 HICAP Sustainable Hotel Awards from HICAP received by Jetwing Vil Uyana, Sri Lanka, a media release [...]
Corruption is a major obstacle to poverty alleviation-says SL’s corruption- buster
Corruption not only results in underperforming economies, especially in developing countries, but it is also a major obstacle to poverty alleviation and development efforts, according to Sri Lankan public interest activist and main corruption-buster Nihal Sri Ameresekere. He made these comments as a part of a presentation entitled “On Corruption & Integrity; Codes of Conduct [...]
World Bank project calls for media and civil society engagement in budget process
A World Bank-funded project on building media and civil society capacities for budget transparency being implemented at the Batticaloa Municipal Council (MC) revealed that there was no platform for media and civil society to involve in the decision-making process and to debate government spending strategy and contestability of expenditure allocations among various units at different [...]
60% of patients suffer obstructed breathing- findings from Nawaloka’s Sleep Lab study
Some 60 per cent of cases tested by the Sleep Lab at the Nawaloka Hospital were found to suffer from obstructed breathing difficulties, the hospital company said. It said the lab has tested approximately 900 patients since August 2009, an average of 20 patients a month. “60 per cent of these cases tested positive for [...]
SL elders enjoy Christmas cake mixing tradition
The annual Christmas Cake mixing of Bentota Beach Hotel was held on October 1 to coincide with the World Elders’ day. The hotel dedicated this traditional culinary event for the benefit of senior citizens of Sugatha Elders’ home this year, who are seen here dressed in chef uniforms.
Sri Lanka, Malaysia formalise business opportunities in the oil and gas sector
Sri Lanka and Malaysia has inked the first oil-and -gas related Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) paving the way for more investment and business opportunities in the petroleum sector, Sri Lanka’s Petroleum Resources Development Secretariat (PRDS) said. The PRDS signed a MoU with the Malaysia Petroleum Resources Corporation (MPRC), a government agency under the Prime Minister’s [...]
Well performing green hotels sponsored at WTM
Four hotels in Sri Lanka have been fully sponsored for its participation at the World Travel Mart (WTM) 2012 in the UK for adhering to green standards by the European Union-funded SWITCH Asia Greening Sri Lanka Hotels Project. In a media release issued last week, the project stated they would be fully sponsoring Randholee Resort [...]
‘Genuine’ investors concerned over relaxation of rules on brokers’ as investors
Many ‘genuine’ investors have expressed concern over this week’s decision by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to remove credit restrictions and lift a time-bound ban on brokers as investors and selling their share portfolios, a well-known investor and public rights activist said. “Many genuine investors have been rudely surprised, shocked and saddened by the [...]
Hambantota chamber president re-elected, four women on director-board
M. Shaheed Usuph, Managing Director of Al Najath Import and Export was re-elected as the President of the Hambantota District Chamber of Commerce (HDCC) for the year 2012/2013 at the 19th Annual General Meeting on 21st September 2012 in Ambalantota. The chamber said 25 others were elected to the board of directors and among them [...]
Benign competition, more usage up Dialog’s credit : Fitch
The standalone credit profile for top Sri Lankan telco Dialog has improved between 2010 and 2012, driven by a benign competitive environment and improved usage across most service segments, according to ratings agency Fitch. This was revealed as part of Fitch’s recent announcement that it had upgraded Dialog’s standalone credit profile to “AA+(lka)”, from its [...]
Dubai-based MEP contractor begins operations in Sri Lanka
BK Gulf, part of Dutco Balfour Beatty Group which is one of the leading MEP contractors in the Middle East, is to begin operations in Sri Lanka early next year focusing on the Sri Lankan MEP construction industry, the company said. An MEP contractor executes the Mechanical, Electrical & Plumbing/Public health related jobs in a [...]
Air-purifying wonder bulbs in SL market
Sri Lanka will soon have air purifying CFL energy saving bulbs that cleans and freshen the air and destroys harmful bacteria, pollen dust and cigarette smoke, an official said. Each bulb covers a wide area and emits 3.5million negative ions per centimetre through the use of an ion generator contained within the structure of the [...]
Lankan IT expert-turned entrepreneur in Russia helps local industrialists
A Sri Lankan IT expert turned entrepreneur in Russia has stepped in to assist local small, medium and micro industrialists who have not been exposed to the outside world. Dr. Jagath Chandrawansa, Chairman Ongo Group of companies based in Russia, told the Business Times, “ee will be helping our small, medium and micro industrialists, to [...]
Mobitel promotes NCPA hotline to report child abuses
Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel is lending its support to the National Child Protection Authority on a number of projects. This includes developing and building the National Child Protection Authority’s (NCPA) programme and its work, and achieving its vision of creating child-friendly and protective environments for children. Mobitel will initially work on promoting the NCPA’s 24-hour [...]
UNIDO initiative in renewable energy
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the International Centre for Hydrogen Energy Technologies (ICHET) recently jointly organized a workshop on “Renewables coupled to Hydrogen Energy Storage: an opportunity for sustainable energy investments in Sri Lanka”, in a bid to promote renewable and clean energy technologies for stationary and transport applications. Nawaz Rajabdeen, National [...]
Mergers and Acquisitions on the rise
Although companies acquire and merge with others for a range of reasons, the main rationale such mergers and acquisitions take place is that the purchasing company seeks improved financial performance, according to experts. “Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) can create cost efficiency through economies of scale, can boost the revenue through gain in market share and [...]
JKH K-Mall in Jaela
John Keells Holdings (JKH), firmly rooted in the country with its consumer retail marketing concept, is furthering another sector of this kind of marketing – ‘K Zone – shopping malls where along with Keells Supermarkets, other companies involved in retail marketing are offered places to do their retail marketing in a huge market place. Keells [...]
State is responsible
This is certainly not the worst crisis in education. The worst in my mind was during the JVP insurgency in the late 1980’s. On who is responsible – state, private sector or civil society? A combination of all three but primarily the state. Ultimately policy is in the hands of the state. And whether it [...]
Education crisis: Not the end of the world
The current fracture in the education system is a manifestation of profound negligence and incompetence. Thoughts of “fixing” incompetence by appointing a group of so called “experts” many undoubtedly with vested interests (e.g. private tuition providers or polarising political creatures) is the wrong medication. Structurally, we have a good primary and secondary education system, thanks [...]
All specialised leasing companies to become fincos’
All specialised Leasing Companies (LCs) have been requested by the Central Bank (CB) to convert to finance companies – similar to what People’s Leasing Company did recently, officials said. “This is because we wanted them to be better regulated as finance companies are (better) regulated than LCs. Last Tuesday when we met with the leasing [...]
Sustainable energy becomes a part of Aitken Spence Hotels
Aitken Spence Hotels stated recently that it’s in the forefront of developing efficient hotel energy management systems by practicing the control of procedures, operations and equipment that contribute to the energy use in a hotel operation. The company was looking at improving energy efficiency and increasingly using renewable energy technologies in its operations, it stated [...]
India’s Hero MotoCorp steps into international market from Sri Lanka
India’s largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp has stepped into the international market under its newly incorporated brand identity by launching as many as 14 models in Sri Lanka, company officials said. The company has selected Sri Lanka as its first international market to launch the new Hero brand identity after separating from Honda, its previous [...]
Sri Lanka’s Motor Traffic Department goes digital, cuts paper work
Sri Lanka’s Motor Traffic Department (MTD) will soon replace its 84-year-old manual filing system of maintaining vehicle registration records, details of driving licences and other related documents with a fully automated documentary transfer management system, Commissioner General of Motor Traffic S. H. Harischandra said in an interview with BT Motoring. The manual files will be [...]
Sri Lanka’s vehicle registrations slow down
Sri Lanka’s new vehicle registrations nose-dived 18 per cent to 315,902 during the first nine months this year (upto September 2012) from 385,482 during the same period a year earlier, statistics released by Motor Traffic Department revealed. A statistical report released by the department said that new car registrations fell 39.22 percent to 26,890 in [...]
3-letter registration numbers soon
Sri Lanka’s new vehicles will get registration numbers with three English letters soon following the end of the two-English-letter registry, Motor Traffic Department sources said. The department would be issuing these registration numbers to around 6.4 million vehicles in the next 20 years, the department sources revealed. The English number vehicle registry was introduced in [...]
Cancellation of permits for errant driving schools
Sri Lanka’s driving schools numbering around 700 are to be streamlined and regulated upgrading the standard of driving instructors aimed at producing disciplined drivers to minimize motor traffic accidents countrywide, officials said. The permits of driving schools responsible for passing out indisciplined drivers would be withdrawn. Motor Traffic Department Commissioner General S. H. Harischandra said [...]
