Business

27th January 2002

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Super complex in Kandy

A three billion-rupee commercial and office complex covering 11 acres will provide a new look to Sri Lanka's hill capital, Kandy. The project given BOI flagship status and in the heart of the town is by Property Finance and Investments, Kandy, and includes parking facilities for 300 vehicles. It has a floor area of 500,000 square feet for official and commercial use. Construction gets underway in March. Picture shows a model of the complex.
Contents

Mind your Business

No ills with bills

A high flier with "tough" contacts has got a top government job dealing with communications. Now insiders say the bills will certainly be paid on time. Who would want to be at receiving end of "minders" of the big boss who would go beyond twisting the arms of an errant subscriber?

Outlaw in-laws

The greens may be better managers of the economy but the young turks in the ranks are raising eyebrows, and that is not merely because they have a wider vision.

Some of them in insurance brokering are said to be soliciting business from institutions under their purview which others say is unethical, at least. But old timers nod knowingly. Like father, like son, they say though it is very unlike father-in-law! What would the latter say, if he knew about all this, we wonder?

Curate's egg

The budget is due and some pleasant surprises are on the cards - as well as a few unpleasant ones.

The levy that secures the nation will most probably be done away with - the benefits of which hopefully will be passed on to the consumer. But on the other said, there will be no big bonanzas or concessions and even a wage hike will be very nominal, we hear.


Airport services to be privatised

By Rohan Gunasekera
The liberalisation of civil aviation contemplated by the government will lead to far-reaching reforms under which private operators will be allowed to provide a gamut of services including ground handling and catering as well as air traffic control.

A new act, called the Civil Aviation Act of Sri Lanka, will shortly be introduced in parliament to replace existing laws that had not been updated for decades. "Aviation is a marketable economic activity," said Lal Liyanaarachchi, Director General Civil Aviation. "It is a catalyst industry with a great revenue generating capacity."

Under the reforms that are to be implemented, the Department of Civil Aviation will be replaced by a Civil Aviation Authority which would regulate the industry and ensure that international safety and operational standards are maintained. The new Civil Aviation Act has provision for the Minister of Civil Aviation to appoint "service providers" for a wide range of activities, he said. These include catering and ground handling which are currently a monopoly of the national carrier, SriLankan Airlines, in which Emirates has management control and a 40 percent equity stake.

Under the new Act, the director general of civil aviation can allow other airline operators to do their own ground handling if they wish to do so, Liyanaarachchi said in an interview. However, operators who do not wish to do their own ground handling, which is a specialist service involving big investments, can go to the designated sole ground handling agent which is SriLankan Airlines. Likewise, catering too will be opened up to competition.

Airports and Aviation Services Ltd., a government-owned business undertaking that operates the Katunayake international airport, will be called a service provider under the new Act and be licensed and regulated by the Civil Aviation Authority. The new Act will facilitate the privatisation of the airport and will also allow the private sector to provide services such as air traffic control, passenger and cargo handling services, supply of aviation fuel and air navigation aids and communications services, he said. The new policy will help the authorities hire and retain the services of qualified professionals who had hitherto been reluctant to serve in government departments, he said.

Liyanaarachchi said that for Sri Lanka to attract more airlines to the country it had to be more attractive "cost wise, and in terms of facilities and quality of service".

Aviation Minister Tilak Marapana on Monday announced that the government wanted to adopt an "open skies" policy and would review the privatisation of the national carrier which he said had probably "created a monopolistic situation" that hindered efforts to develop the industry.



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