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Trincomalee gets its first commerce chamber
Pic. and story from Sinniah Gurunathan in Trincomalee

Officials at the opening of Trincomalee's new District Chamber of Commerce.

Trincomalee entrepreneurs got a boost last week with the inauguration of a District Chamber of Commerce last Wednesday. "We have been ignored in the past for more than 20 years. When we suffered due to the war no one came to our rescue. Even the banks did not come forward to render proper financial assistance to us as we were identified as a war zone.

Thanks to the recent peace process, the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka has come forward to help Trincomalee entrepreneurs and industrialists," said K. Thurairajah, founder President of the newly formed Trincomalee District Chamber of Commerce. It is the first chamber in this port town on the eastern coast.

"We have records to prove, as far back as the 15th century, the Trincomalee harbour and Kottiyar Bay in Muttur were two significant ports for imports and exports. We exported pearls, arecanuts and many other products - believe me even elephants. There were rich commercial towns in the district such as Killiveddy and Thampalakamam," noted.

R. Rajarammohan, Secretary of the Trincomalee chamber, recalling the pristine glory of the area to an audience that included several prominent entrepreneurs from Colombo. "Every citizen of this country is now experiencing confidence and strength they have never felt before with the signing of the MoU by the government and the LTTE. This optimism gave rise to the formation of the Trincomalee District Chamber of commerce. This is indeed a wonderful moment for the business community of Trincomalee. I should say, a dream come true," he said.

Chandra Embuldeniya, President of the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka, said it was not one dream but "two dreams that came true" referring to peace and the creation of a conducive environment for the business community to contribute to the economy of the island. He said district chambers of commerce have already been established in Jaffna and Vavuniya. After Trincomalee, the NCCSL is taking steps to establish a chamber in Batticaloa district next month.

Went in search of gold, found hydropower
The late D.J. Wimalasurendra, remembered as the man who pioneered hydro-electricity generation in the island, was sent to the Kelani valley to prospect for gold.
Instead of gold, he found the Laxapana waterfall, which prompted him investigate the possibilities of hydro-power generation.

Wimalasurendra became interested in hydro-power development when he joined what was then the Department of Works, after he was elected to the Associate Membership of the Institute of Civil and Electrical Engineers of England.
His 128th birth anniversary was commemorated on September 17 by the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka (IESL).

B.R.O. Fernando, President of the IESL, in his welcome address, referred to Wimalasurendra as a "son of Sri Lanka who looked into the future needs of the common man". Speaking on this occasion, the Chief Guest, Minister of Health, Nutrition and Welfare P. Dayaratne said, "The power crisis we are facing today would have been avoided had the politicians during British rule and successive governments during post-independence heeded the wise counselling provided by Mr. Wimalasurendra."

Following his visit to Laxapana and extensive research, Wimalasurendra was able to prepare a thesis on the 'Economics of Power Utilisation in Ceylon', where he suggested that by harnessing the Mahaweli, Kehelgamuwa and Maskeliya rivers to generate power, the country could well proceed into the industrial era.

Although his views were strongly opposed by the European engineering fraternity and the British administration at the time, he was able to muster the support of political leaders of the calibre of D.S. Senanayake to pursue his goal. On October 30, 1950 Sri Lanka opened a new chapter in its history when Sir John Kothelawala switched on the power from the Laxapana Hydro Power Scheme.

Hydro-power continues to be the largest source of energy to the national grid despite the growing use of thermal power. This is primarily due to the vision and perseverance displayed by Wimalasurendra, who pioneered the first hydro-power scheme in the country. The Wimalasurendra power station at Norton was named after him. - SG

Proper implementation vital: Moragoda
Milinda Moragoda, Minister of Economic Reform, Science and Technology, has stressed the need for preparing plans that are workable as Sri Lanka has performed poorly in the implementation process whatever the plan.

"The time for talking is over. What we need is hard work," he told the inauguration of The Management Club (TMC) (southern region) at the Mount Lavinia Hotel and the launching of its web site last week.

He said the government has a vision and a plan for the country to develop, has talked about it and created awareness and now comes the most important part - implementing it.

British High Commissioner Steven Evens said Sri Lanka is important not only as a market but as a regional hub. There are more that 120 Sri Lanka-UK joint ventures in Sri Lanka providing employment to more than 55,000 people.

TMC chairman Fayaz Saleem said that within a period of few months TMC has increased its membership to 400, adding that it is important to interact for the success of management services in the country. - HS

Shell's 'Bright Ideas' in Ampara
Shell LiveWIRE, a community investment initiative of Shell Sri Lanka aimed at developing and encouraging young entrepreneurs, has conducted two 'Bright Ideas' workshops in Ampara and Siyanbalanduwa.

Ampara boasts the highest rate of population growth in the island and this growth indicates an increase in the market size in the district, said Premasiri Gamage, a resource person for the 'Bright Ideas' workshop.

This means an increase in the need for goods and services in the future, which all potential entrepreneurs should use to their advantage, he said. Since the inception of the 'Bright Ideas' programme in October 2000, Shell LiveWIRE has conducted over 165 workshops in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Uva, North Central and Southern Provinces. - RC

SL expects $3 bln from IMF for infrastructure projects
Sri Lanka is getting considerable economic aid from the IMF and by December is expected to receive about $ 3 billion to spend on infrastructure development and wants Malaysia to be part of the infrastructure boom, the state-owned Board of Investment (BOI) chief has said.

Arjuna Mahendran made these comments during a recent discussion with a high-powered Malaysian business delegation that was in Sri Lanka as a follow-up on the visit of Malaysia's Works Minister Samy Vellu.

Datuk Dr. Halim Shafie, Secretary General, Ministry of Energy, Communications and Multi Media of Malaysia who led the Malaysian delegation, said Malaysia was interested in developing the energy sector in Sri Lanka, responding to Mahendran who said infrastructure was the main area that Malaysia was likely to develop and will play an important part in future relations between the two countries.

The BOI chairman/director-general also stressed the need to develop the energy sector, particularly coal power, wind power and biomass conversion. The Malaysian government and private institutions present in the delegation came from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Education, Economic Planning Unit, Implementation Co-ordination unit, Malaysia Communications and Multi-Media Commission, Multimedia Development Corporation, MIMOS Berhad, Multimedia University, Telekom Malaysia Berhad, Tenaga National Berhad, Telekom Smart School Sdn. Bhd, Technology Resources Industries Berhad, Digi Telecommunications Sdn. Bhd and Time Telecommunications Sdn. Bhd.

Mahendran's team included Santhusth Jayasuriya, Deputy Director General (Promotion), Nirgunan Tiruchelvam, Deputy Director General (Bureau of Infrastructure Investment), L.D.D. Dickman, Executive Director (Regional Development), A.M.C. Kulasekera, Executive Director (Investment), Dr. Nihal Samarapulli, Executive Director (Research), Dilip S. Samarasinghe, Director (Media and Publicity), Shantha Jayasinghe, Manager (Promotions), Mohamed Hameez, Management Assistant.

He said there were plans to streamline the BOI and decentralize a number of its activities. In addition, a one-stop shop will be set up to function much like an airline office or a banking outlet, offering potential investors a customer-friendly service.
While the BOI has identified energy as one of the key areas that Sri Lanka needs to develop, preparations are also underway for next month's visit of the Malaysian energy minister to Colombo.

Other Malaysian projects being considered in Sri Lanka are the introduction of a smart card system in Sri Lanka with much of the data concerning an individual stored in a smart card that doubles as a driving licence, punch card for employees and ATM banking card and a Project Monitoring System similar to that currently in place in Malaysia.

A BOI statement said a Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries will be signed to develop a Multimedia Super highway. In its initial stage this will include the setting up of a multimedia university and an exchange of academic staff. Internet-based teaching will be included in this project and either state or private institutions will fund this.

Other subjects examined was the improvement of Sri Lanka's postal service and the setting up of a Technological Park, modeled on the one Malaysia has set up. Sri Lanka was also interested in setting up a body to regulate effectively the Internet and Information super highway, the statement said.

Facets notches $ 1 million in sales
The recent "Facets 2002" gem and jewellery exhibition in Colombo not only drew the largest number of visitors in the history of the event but also notched sales of $ 1 million.

The September 9-11 exhibition was attended by 5,000 visitors. Organisers said in a statement that bookings for Facets 2003, scheduled for September next year has already exceeded expectations.

"Foreign companies taking part from Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand and Australia together with their local counterparts expressed confidence in the upsurge of the buyer turnout and attributed this to the peace situation prevailing in the country," the statement said adding that it was the 12th successful exhibition. Facets 2002 was organised by the Sri Lanka Gem Traders' Association.

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