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Chinese officials are seen preparing for the signing of the Hambantota port deal at the Ministry of Ports and Shipping in Colombo yesterday. Pic by Indika Handuwala
Hambantota port deal signed; minority stake for SLPA in both new companies
The Concession Agreement for the controversial Rs. 193 billion Hambantota Port, the legally binding document for what is being promoted as a public-private partnership, was signed yesterday. The event at the Ports and Shipping Ministry was telecast live over the UNP-controlled state run Independent Television Network (ITN). Ministry Secretary L.P. Jayampathy and Sri Lanka Ports [...]
CoI calls for details of Perpetual’s new companies and dealings
The Commission of Inquiry probing the Central Bank’s treasury bond issue has ordered Perpetual Treasuries to submit details regarding shares of several institutions it had purchased after the controversial auction of treasury bonds. The commission ordered Perpetual Treasuries to submit these details before Wednesday. Justice Prasanna Jayawardena, one of the Commissioners, said Perpetual Treasuries’ dealings [...]
Maldives seeks seat in UN Security Council, unseats its own MPs
The Maldives has launched a campaign at the United Nations in New York for a two year non-permanent seat in the Security Council but its government deployed troops this week to seize its Parliament – the Majlis — preventing MPs from taking their seats. Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen’s military operation was to thwart a vote [...]
Petroleum unions hit out at President
Petroleum sector trade unions yesterday accused President Maithripala Sirisena of reneging on a promise that the signing of the Concession Agreement on the Hambantota Port would take place after Tuesday. In a letter to the President, the Petroleum Joint Trade Union Alliance (PJTUA), which led this week’s petroleum strike to protest the deal, said the [...]
Intermittent daytime power cuts to continue
By Sandun Jayawardana The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) will continue to impose intermittent power cuts, an official said yesterday. The power situation was aggravated after yet anohter power plant was shut down on Friday due to technical issues. The 163 Mega Watt (MW) privately owned Sojitz Kelanitissa power plant broke down on Friday adding to [...]
11-hour water cut in Gampaha District today
An 11-hour water cut will be in force from 8.00 a.m. today in several areas in the Gampaha district, the National Water Supply and Drainage Board said. The affected areas will be Kelaniya, Peliyagoda, Watala, Biyagama, Dompe, Dekatana, Ja-Ela, Seeduwa, the Gampaha Pradeshiya Sabha area, Weliveriya and Rathupaswala. The disruption is to facilitate repairs to [...]
A young lawyer-to-be and schoolgirl succumb to dengue
A young girl from Mahara, Kadawatha, who was due to take oaths as a lawyer in September, succumbed to dengue on Friday, a coroner’s court inquiry was told. Mangala Kottachchilage Dilini Tharangika ( 27) from Varahanthuduwa, Mahara had high fever on Tuesday and admitted to the Ragama hospital from where she was sent to the [...]
Dengue: Cleaning campaign in schools every Sunday
The Government has decided to conduct mandatory cleaning campaigns in schools every Sunday beginning next month. The move comes as the number of dengue cases continue to rise with 310 deaths by Friday and 111,333 patients reported. The decision was taken after it was pointed out that cleaning school premises may be neglected due to [...]
Danger of landslide: 21 families evacuated from Uma Oya project area
In view of the fear of landslides, 21 families have been evacuated from Aluth Gama and Dikarawa villages at Ella in the Badulla district, Disaster Management Centre Deputy Director Pradeep Kodippili said. He said these families had been evacuated even before the National Building Research Organisation (NBRO) gave a warning. However, NBRO oficials said they [...]
Govt. calls tenders to build second refinery of 100,000 bpd
Tenders have been called for feasibility studies to build Sri Lanka’s second oil refinery with a capacity to refine 100,000 barrels per day, Minister of Petroleum Resources Development, Arjuna Ranatunga told the Sunday Times. The present oil refinery refines about 42,000 bpd. The Ministry intends to refurbish the refinery to operate at its full capacity [...]
Roads’ end for major projects: RDA seeks Rs. 60b more
The Road Development Authority (RDA) has appealed to the Treasury for additional urgent funds, amounting to Rs 60 billion, for road projects and warned that otherwise construction activities of major projects could come to a halt. The funding has been requested for land acquisition, for proposed expressway projects, for elevated roads and for payments for [...]
Roads’ end for major projects: RDA seeks Rs. 60b more
The Road Development Authority (RDA) has appealed to the Treasury for additional urgent funds, amounting to Rs 60 billion, for road projects and warned that otherwise construction activities of major projects could come to a halt. The funding has been requested for land acquisition, for proposed expressway projects, for elevated roads and for payments for [...]
CEB, PUCSL wires cross over long term power generation
Plans to avert an impending power crisis have been thrown in doubt after the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) this week objected to the country’s Least Cost Long Term Generation Expansion Plan (LCLTGEP) approved by the nation’s power sector Regulator, the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL). The war of words between the PUCSL and [...]
Pilgrims’ rest in India: Controversy over Ravi’s move
Foreign Minister Ravi Karunanayake neither contacted his Cabinet colleague Justice and Buddha Sasana Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe nor the Sri Lanka High Commission in New Delhi, before presenting his proposal to the Cabinet this week to transfer the Buddhist Pilgrims Rest, now under the management of the Sri Lanka High Commission in the Indian capital to [...]
A honeymooning couple’s hearts go out to injured stray
At a time where a recent act of blatant cruelty to stray dogs shocked many animal lovers in the country, a couple from the Netherlands who were on their honeymoon in Tissamaharama, took care of this injured canine by taking it to the veterinary surgeon in the area for treatment. The couple had seen the [...]
Academics seek quick end to SAITM saga
Ragama wants permanent halt to SAITM admissions SAITM not model for private medical education Heed grave situ faced by state medical students Takeover of Neville Fernando Hospital, a ruse With the Higher Education Ministry ordering the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM) to halt student enrolment, senior academics are hopeful that the [...]
Doctors need both a qualification and a licence to practise
As many voices of reason came out strongly this week from Colombo to bring about an end to the SAITM issue, there arose a firm echo from the Peradeniya Medical Faculty. “A great majority of us believe that SAITM should be shut down,” said the President of the Peradeniya Faculty of Medicine Teachers’ Association, Prof. [...]
Oil worker strike hobbles economic activity, ignites public rage
Workers of Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, the multi-billion rupee loss-making state liability now under Minister Arjuna Ranatunga, and whose work has a direct impact on the cost of living of Sri Lankans, dealt a body blow to the people – except hybrid drivers – once again with a decision to strike. This came as brent crude, [...]
Strike disease spreads heartbreak at hospitals
Wimaladasa Perera, 74, who suffers from heart disease and high blood pressure, was seated outside ward 27 of the National Hospital on Tuesday not knowing that he will not be seeing a doctor. He had made the trip from Talagala. “I took my medicine in the morning I don’t have any for the rest of [...]
Fishing net may have killed dugong and calf
Wildlife offcials suspect that the carcass of a female dugong found afloat in the northern seas off Mollikulam on Thursday July 27 with a new-born calf may have been drowned after being trapped in a fishing net. Dr Sevvandi Jayakody of the Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries of the Wayamba University, said that the female [...]
Danger of landslide: 21 families evacuated from Uma Oya project area
In view of the fear of landslides, 21 families have been evacuated from Aluth Gama and Dikarawa villages at Ella in the Badulla district, Disaster Management Centre Deputy Director Pradeep Kodippili said. He said these families had been evacuated even before the National Building Research Organisation (NBRO) gave a warning. However, NBRO oficials said they [...]
Another Tusker expected from Myanmar, but not in time for Esala Perahera
The tusker gifted by Myanmar to President Maithripala Sirisena would be used mostly during the Kandy Esala Perahera, Diyawadana Nilame Pradeep Nilanga Dela said. However, the tusker Indiraja would only be shipped from Myanmar in August, so will not be used in this year’s Perahera. Myanmar gifted the tusker on a request made by the [...]
Cocaine in cargo puts Lanka’s sugar importers in a jam
The recent detection of a large haul of cocaine at a government warehouse has prompted detectives to shift their focus on international smuggling rings and probe whether Sri Lanka’s sugar importers have become unwitting victims. On July 19, cocaine weighing 218 kilograms was detected from a shipping container that brought sugar to the Sathosa Economic [...]
Judge Illancheliyan refutes police claim he was not the target
The Magisterial inquiry into the death of Jaffna High Court Judge Manickavasagar Illancheliyan’s Police bodyguard, has been fixed for August 8. On Wednesday (26) morning, Sivarasa Jayanthan (39) surrendered to Jaffna police, claiming he carried out the shooting in Nallur. Following preliminary investigations, he was produced before Jaffna Magistrate S. Satheestharan and remanded till August [...]
Don’t import rice, ample stocks, says farmer association
The country has sufficient stocks of rice until the beginning of next year and there was no necessity to import, a farmers association said. All Island Farmers’ Federation, national organiser Namal Karunaratne said thousands of acres of paddy-cultivated lands in Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Ampara and Kilinochchi are ready for harvesting this Yala season and farmers would [...]
Old habits die hard: Change the trade union culture
The decision by the Government to declare the supply of petroleum and allied matters as an essential service would have been welcomed by the long suffering public. With many sections of the community being adversely affected by a series of wildcat strikes and demonstrations, the Government’s decisive action gave the citizenry some degree of relief. [...]
Judicial integrity and legal delays topical at ceremony for new Appeal Court judges
Judges should strive to conduct themselves in a way that will sustain and contribute to public respect and confidence in their integrity, impartiality and good judgement, Attorney General Jayantha Jayasuriya P.C. said on Friday. “Public confidence in, and respect for the judiciary are essential to an effective judicial system and ultimately to democracy founded on [...]
Stories from a parched land
The prevalent drought in the North Central, Northern, North western and Eastern provinces is wrecking the lives of area residents. The drought is so severe it has ruined livelihood. Even potable water and food is in short supply. Animals are even worse off, with their normal waterholes drying up, they are forced to seek out [...]
Ocean-going jumbos possibly disoriented
Wildlife experts have not been able to adequately explain why a few elephants had been sighted in distress in the oceans closer to shore in the east and even in the deep seas. Some suspect they had been disoriented. Elephants are known to be able to negotiate lakes, reservoirs and rivers. Once again, this week, [...]
Public urged to boycott polythene and help traditional bag weavers
Cottage industries of Sri Lanka will need time to catch up with demand for shopping bags made of natural materials when the ban on polythene bags and polystyrene containers becomes effective in September despite protests by manufacturers. Households are also being encouraged to boycott polythene bags for the sake of freeing Sri Lanka from the [...]
PALMYRAH GOODS PITCHED IN COLOMBO
The Palmyrah Development Board is holding an exhibition on August 25, 26 and 27 at the Galle Face Green to promote its products. General manager, Balasingham Sudhakaran said although the palmyrah products are in demand in the north, they are not sought out by the people in the south or the rest of the country. [...]
Pick of the Pix
Pix by Amila Gamage, Indika Handuwala, M.A.Pushpa Kumara, Shelton Hettiarachchi, Janath De Silva
A China card for West Asia stability
PARIS – The list of crises plaguing the Middle East is growing. In Yemen, a civil war rages amid an uncontrollable cholera epidemic. In Jerusalem, religious violence is intensifying, while in parts of Iraq and Syria, sectarian warfare shows no signs of abating. Most ominously, a new level of antagonism between Saudi Arabia and Iran [...]