At the request of President Ranil Wickremesinghe, measures are underway to provide non-refundable financial assistance of up to Rs.20,000 to the farmers who are cultivating paddy for the ‘Maha Season’ through a financial grant from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) .
Accordingly, an allowance of Rs.10,000 will be given to small scale paddy farmers who have engaged in farming activities on lands to the extent of one hectare or less and an allowance of Rs. 20,000 will be given to farmers engaged in paddy cultivation on lands over one hectare, Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said.
This financial assistance will be provided only to the paddy farmers, and the money will be directly credited to their accounts.
The amount of paddy to be cultivated during the Maha Season is 800,000 hectares and it is planned to give this allowance to all the paddy farmers to buy MOP fertilizer.
Minister Amaraweera said that the amount proposed to be spent for this purpose is Rs.08 billion and 1.2 million farming families will be entitled to this benefit.
Minister Amaraweera will announce further information about this in the future through a special press conference.
A special awareness programme to support the Committee on Public Accounts (CoPA) regarding the further expansion of the evaluation process in the Public Sector was held in Parliament recently, with the participation of Committee members and Chief MP Kabir Hahsim.
The officials of Sri Lanka Evaluation Association (SLEvA) who attended the meeting briefed the CoPA in this regard.
It was also discussed regarding the completion of the National Evaluation draft bill and implementation of the recommendations of the Parliament Select Committee.
Meanwhile, facts were presented about the possibility of establishing an Evaluation Unit when establishing a budget office in Parliament. The need to speed up the preparation of a National Evaluation Policy was also emphasised here.
Further stressing the need for a formal national evaluation process, CoPA Chief Hashim stated that this programme is a preliminary discussion and that he expects to discuss this more widely in the future and take the necessary steps expeditiously.
State Ministers Prasanna Ranaweera, Kader Mastan, MPs Dr. Sudarshani Fernandopulle, Maj. Pradeep Udugoda, Wasantha Yapa Bandara, Sahan Pradeep Vithana, Prof. Charita Herath and Dr. Harini Amasuriya were present on this occasion. Secretary General of Parliament Dhammika Dasanayake, Assistant Secretary General Tikiri.K Jayathilaka and a group of officials from the CoPA Secretariat were also present on this occasion.
Renowned journalist Asanga Jayalath has been appointed as the Director General of Rupavahini Corporation.
The appointment was made by the Minister of Mass Media at the approval of the President.
Jayalath, who previously served in higher media portfolios in several ministries including the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Higher Education, holds a Masters in Business Management and can be recognised as an individual with unique capabilities and innovative thinking in media with his expertise in the digital world.
He also served in several private media institutions and contributed to advertising by many companies in the business field.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe stressed that everyone should unite to fulfill their moral responsibility for the country, sidelining the traditional political system of trying to grab power at the next election by palming off all the responsibilities on the government.
The President also said that he has not forgotten the difficulties the people are facing today due to the increase in the prices of goods as a result of inflation, and that he will solve the country’s economic problems step by step and provide more relief to the people by next year.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe made this statement during the progress review meeting of the food security district program held at the Nuwara Eliya Town Hall yesterday morning (22).
The President requested all to cast aside political differences and join hands in order to make the food security program a success.
President Wickremesinghe said that he has not engaged in politics since assuming the office of President, and assured his commitment to revive the country’s fallen economy by providing relief to the people who are suffering from the high cost of living burden.
Pointing out that the people today have rejected not one group but the entire political system, the President further stated that people’s trust can only be regained by working together and rebuilding the country.
The statement made by President Ranil Wickremesinghe is as follows:
I came to this Nuwara Eliya district today to review the progress of the Food Security Programme. Nuwara Eliya is a very important district for it is one that brings foreign exchange to the country and contributes a lot to the country’s economy through agriculture.
You experienced a shortage of fertilizers last May which we have now overcome. We should also think of the coming year while providing the necessary fertilizers to the farmers since we are facing a food shortage caused by the collapse of the country’s economy. However, due to the war in Ukraine, the entire world will face a food shortage next year, a challenge which we too would have to overcome.
We hope to continue with this Food Security Program throughout the year 2023 since the prices of the food would rice with this global situation. Then only the developed countries could afford for food. Under such a situation, we have got to make these activities successful. Today this project has been extended to the village level.
I want to thank you all for the progress that this program has made. We should all work together to carry this program forward. I request the officials to report to us if there are any deficiencies and we provide all the facilities through the Ministry of Agriculture.
Recently, I received a report on the relief that we are to be provided with from the World Food Programme. I hope we will get help from other countries as well.
In addition, the discussions on the debt restructuring program with the International Monetary Fund and private creditors have almost come to an end and with it our problems could be solved. However, we cannot give up this Food Security Program though we solve our issues. We have got to move forward by bringing everyone together to make the program a success.
We hope to allocate money next year to provide the necessary support to prevent malnutrition in certain areas of this plantation. We have established a joint mechanism at the regional level for all these activities. Efforts are being made to involve non-governmental sectors in this regard. All these people should work without politics.
Today we are facing an unprecedented challenge in history. A large number of people in this country are living with many difficulties. Everyone is in a very difficult situation due to the increase in the price of goods along with the increase in inflation. We have not forgotten these difficulties that the people are facing.
After resolving these issues, I hope to provide more relief to the people in 2023. We have to get through this difficult period to move forward.
We must continue this food security program without political differences. This economic collapse is unprecedented. Therefore, we should unite without politics for the program of rebuilding the economy. Although we have different ideas and opinions, we all have to work together. We should think about it ethically. We have no other option.
I have never been involved in politics since becoming President. Talking to everyone, representing everyone, I am trying to save the suffering people from this crisis.
We should provide relief to all these people living in plantations, villages and cities. Regardless of political differences, we will work together for this purpose.
However, some people still think in a traditional way. They think that if all the responsibilities are assigned to the government, they will be able to grab power at the next election. It doesn’t work. Today people are not only blaming the government, they accuse the entire Parliament. The people are fed up with the political system. We are all responsible for this situation after 75 years.
At present, the youth have distance themselves from politics. We all have to work together to win their trust. We need to change this entire political system and move forward. Before that we have to eradicate the hunger of the people. People today are suffering from the burden of high cost of living. If we want to end this situation, let’s correct the mistakes that we have made and move the country forward together.
Member of Parliament Mr. V. Radhakrishnan
If we consider about the food security program in the Nuwara Eliya District, there is a problem of fertilizer. The farmers have informed us that the fertilizer which they have received is of substandard quality.
Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Amaraweera:-
Earlier this year, farmers bought fertilizer for Rs. 40,000. With the government’s intervention, currently the fertilizer is being provided at a rate of Rs.16,000. The price decrease is not a result of the drop of fertilizer price in the world market but is due the intervention of the government. We will continue to provide quality fertilizer.
Member of Parliament Mr. C. B Ratnayake.
Hon. President, at present, it costs about Rs.65,000 to grow about 66 kg of potatoes. In addition, a seed problem has also arisen. We hope to reduce the price of insecticides and herbicides in the future. We are taking every possible measure to increase food production.
Ministers Nimal Siripala de Silva, Mahinda Amaraweera, Members of Parliament S.B. Dissanayake, CB Ratnayake, Palani Digambaram, Jeevan Thondaman, V. Radhakrishnan, Udaya Kumar, M. Rameswaran, Nimal Piyathissa, Chief of Staff to the President and Senior Adviser to the President on National Security Sagala Ratnayake, Secretary to the President Saman Ekanayake, former Minister Navin Dissanayake, former Member of Parliament K.K. Piyadasa, Central Province Governor Lalit U Gamage and public officials of the district were present on this occasion.
The depression over Southwest Bay of Bengal located 370k.m. to the northeast of Trincomalee and it is very likely to cross Sri Lanka during subsequent 48 hours, said the Department of Meteorology in a statement today (23).
Under the influence of this system, rainy and windy conditions are likely to increase over most parts of the island during 24th and 25th December.
Showers at times will occur in Northern, Eastern, Uva and North-Central provinces, and showers or thundershowers will occur at several places in elsewhere during the afternoon or night.
Strong gusty winds of about (40-50) kmph can be expected at times over the Northern, Eastern, Western, Sabaragamuwa and Uva provinces.
General public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimise damages caused by temporary localised strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.
Marine Weather:
The depression over Southwest Bay of Bengal located 370k.m. to the northeast of Trincomalee. It is very likely to cross Sri Lanka during subsequent 48 hours. Therefore, Naval and fishing communities are advised not to venture into the deep and shallow sea areas off the coast extending from Mannar to Pottuvil via Kankasanturai, Trincomalee & Batticaloa and in Central and Southwest Bay of Bengal (05N – 15N, 80E – 85E), until further notice. Fishing and naval community are requested to be attentive to future forecasts issued by the Department of Meteorology in this regard.
Condition of Rain:
Showers or thundershowers will occur at several places in the sea areas off the coast extending from Kankasanthurai to Pottuvil via Trincomalee and Batticaloa.
Winds:
Winds will be northerly to north-westerly and wind speed will be (30-40) kmph. Wind speed may increase up to (55-65) kmph at times in the sea areas off the coast extending from Mannar to Pottuvil via Kankasanthurai, Trincomalee and Batticaloa and it will increase up to 50kmph at times in the other sea areas around the Island.
State of Sea:
The sea areas off the coast extending from Mannar to Pottuvil via Kankasanthurai, Trincomalee and Batticaloa will be rough. The other sea areas around the Island will be fairly rough. Temporarily strong gusty winds and very rough seas can be expected during thundershowers.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe says state officials are acting like Ukrainians & Russians who are fighting, instead of solving problems of the general public: also says about 50% of the people’s problems presented to him can be solved by officials.
CB Governor Weerasinghe says Sri Lanka is waiting for financing assurances from bilateral creditors to tap into IMF loan: also says he has “shared all the information possible with bilateral creditors and now they will have to look at it and come back to him”: economists point out the proposed USD 2.9 bn IMF facility over 48 months is not even sufficient to meet 2 months of imports.
Foreign Employment Minister Manusha Nanayakkara says his Ministry will take action against tourists engaged in businesses without permission.
Treasury Secretary Mahinda Siriwardene limits annual bonus payment to employees of commercial corporations, statutory boards and SOEs for 2022 to Rs.25,000: no bonus at loss-making entities: Siriwardene however approves increase of annual travelling allowance of Central Bank Senior Directors by a massive Rs.303,600 to Rs.1,154,100.
Court orders immediate arrest of Peradeniya University Students’ Union President Anuruddha Withanage over the attack on former Vice Chancellor of the Peradeniya University and his son: also orders the extension of the remand of 12 students who were remanded previously.
CEB says one of the 3 coal power plants at Norochcholai, presently generating 300 MW will be shut down from today to “manage the coal stocks” and routine maintenance: reduction in output to be covered by other sources: no change in the daily 2 hr & 20 minute power cuts.
Sathosa to reduce prices of 7 commodities: White Sugar- Rs.220 (reduced by Rs.4): Imported Potatoes- Rs.285 (Rs.5): Big Onions- Rs.185 (Rs.5): Red Lentils- Rs.374 (Rs.11): Local Canned Fish- Rs.475 (Rs.15): Chillies- Rs.1,780 (Rs.15): Sprats (Thai)- Rs.1,100 (Rs.50).
Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) Leader MP Udaya Gammanpila says the Govt is hesitating to hold elections on time because it is alarmed by the people’s reactions over increased taxes, possible long-hour power outages and delay in obtaining IMF assistance.
President Ranil Wickremasinghe instructs officials to commence construction of a cable car project between Pattipola and Boralanda to view World’s End.
Public attention drawn towards Christmas tree erected with vegetable plants at the roundabout in front of the Presidential Secretariat: banners at the location encourage public to grow vegetables in their home gardens.
Rolf Blaser, MD/CEO of Baurs (left) exchanging the contract with His Excellency Dr. D. Furgler, Swiss Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives
The officials from Baurs, SHMA and the Embassy of Switzerland in Colombo
With the view of uplifting the hospitality education sector in Sri Lanka, the Swiss Hospitality & Management Academy (SHMA) of A. Baur & Co. Pvt Ltd. also known as Baurs, a leading conglomerate with diversified business interests, recently established a private and public sector partnership with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
The official signing was held on the 08th of December 2022, at the Embassy of Switzerland in Colombo. The contract exchange took place between Baurs MD and CEO Rolf Blaser and His Excellency Dr. D. Furgler, Swiss Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives.
The Skills for Sustainable Growth (SSG) initiative came about during the height of the pandemic and has seen tremendous participation from both Baurs and SDC. At a time when the hospitality and tourism industry came to a standstill with increasing talent migration, Rolf Blaser discovered the Switzerland-based RIESCO program and quickly felt fervent of it being a practical and immediate solution in addressing the widening skills gap.
During end last year, officials from Baurs held a briefing with the Swiss Ambassador and introduced SHMA and the various solutions from an educational standpoint. With further discussions earlier this year, Baurs proposed a collaboration opportunity with SDC to localize and implement the RIESCO program in the country.
Bringing Switzerland’s distinctive reputation and quality standards in hospitality education which is one of the best in the world to Sri Lanka is a timely and ideal solution to the country’s tourism and hospitality sector, where hundreds of thousands of livelihoods depend upon, in the backdrop of various ongoing challenges, and eventually contribute immensely to the overall economy, ensuring that a quality pool of talented and employable professionals are created especially among the youth in the rural areas. This will with no doubt minimize the industry’s skills gap, take off the burden on the state, and go on to uplifting the country as a whole
Designed by Hotel & Gastro Formation, the RIESCO program is aimed at migrants entering Switzerland, who are heavily reliant on state welfare system. The program methodology and content ensure that one completes the program in the shortest possible time and acquires the necessary skills that are highly employable, translating them into active participants in the hospitality sector and economy.
SHMA plans to sustain this program through advanced digitalization platform, working with both the public and private sector. Coming under the SSG initiative, this will bring about immense benefits to the learners and country as a whole, in contrast to lengthy and conventional hospitality education programs in Sri Lanka.
By aligning and implementing a Swiss Vocational Skills Development (VSD) curriculum in hospitality management, SHMA will enhance local curriculums throughout the numerous learning centers island-wide. Through its train the trainer programs, SHMA will go onto further strengthen impactful teaching methodologies.
The SSG program aims to create 2,240 skilled young men and women within three years, with the first batch of student intake of 240 scheduled to take place during July 2023, followed by training 800 students in 2024 and 1,200 students in 2025, including increasing female representation to 40pct from the current industry levels exhibiting below 10pct. This will cover core hospitality operations and soft skills development including hospitality English, grooming and etiquette, and basic IT skills.
The districts will include Jaffna, Trincomalee, Ampara, Puttalam, Kurunegala, Kandy, Badulla, Nuwara Eliya, Monaragala, Rathnapura, Batticaloa, Anuradhapura, Hambantota among others, with a drive to also identify potential learning centres within the districts.
The certificate program runs for 9 months, with the first six months comprising of 70pct practical classroom learning and 30pct theoretical knowledge, and thereafter take up a 3-month internship with possible extension to 6 months. Baurs has already partnered with many hotels in facilitating these internships, with more joining onboard. The program will pursue a hybrid teaching model where a SHMA faculty member will be placed at each learning center for 6 months upon implementation, ensuring that it’s well absorbed and in line with the standards and frameworks of the learning curriculum.
The SSG program will play a key role in minimizing the skills gap and enhancing the quality of education through increased female participation, competent talent pool, quality standards in par with global trends, and making Sri Lanka among the best tourist destinations. The inclusion of females and returning workers is a main Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of this project, to increase equal employment opportunities and ensure correct and safe employment channels and migration paths.
The SSG hospitality certificate provides a steppingstone towards enrolling for Professional Diploma programs facilitated by SHMA and awarded by École hôtelière de Lausanne EHL, world’s number one hotel management school. SHMA provides world class education through its VET by EHL Professional Diploma programme, available in Culinary, Food & Beverage and Hotel Operations, with the next intake taking place in February and March 2023.
Several projects in the Hambantota International Port’s Industrial Park, including a mega capacity warehouse, are nearing completion, official sources revealed.
Hambantota International Port Group said that in spite of a certain slowdown during COVID-19, the international industrial park has secured over 40 projects from over 08+ countries and has emerged stronger as ever, adhering to their ‘HIP Speed’ concept to renew construction and meet deadlines.
A plug-and-play, park-in-park facility by Xinji Shenzhen Group will also be completed by the end of the year. The USD$ 15 million facility will provide ‘one stop’ services to light industries.
The 2-phase project, being built on 44,194 sq. meters of land, will be ready with its 1st phase of 1,500 sq meters warehouse by end December 2022 and is expected to begin operations by mid 2023.
The first phase of construction on two of the projects will be completed by the end of 2022. The first phase of the 3 million USD$ mega capacity warehouse by INSEE will see completion by February 2023 and move on to 2nd and 3rd phases immediately after.
INSEE expects the 17,300 sq. meters in-port warehousing complex to become wholly operational in the second quarter of next year. The warehouse will improve INSEE’s cargo discharging efficiency, resulting in better vessel turnaround times and significant savings in forex.
A covered bonded warehousing facility measuring 50,000 square feet is also being built by Hambantota Port Logistics Services (HLPL).
Upon completion, the facility will have a storage capacity of 45,000 metric tons and will mainly be used for local distribution and transshipment of fertiliser.
The 5,000 sq m warehouse will not only attract new cargo volumes to HIP, but will also contribute to the port’s goal of becoming a regional hub for bulk cargo.
Another USD$ 300 million tire manufacturing plant by Ceylon Tire Manufacturing and a luxury yacht manufacturing plant by Sea Horse Yachts are also slated for completion in the next few years to come.
In addition to the projects at ground level works, HIP projects in operations also includes USD$ 65 million Laugfs Gas terminal, USD$ 5 million Sinopec Fuel Oil Lanka operating HIP’s Tank Farm to carry out the business of ship refueling and oil trade in South Asia and Intertek Lanka for operating its field-testing laboratory.
The Government has decided to reorganize the existing conventional institutional set-up and newly established the International Trade Office (ITO) to interconnect all the relevant institutions and synergize their work to obtain maximum output from the external trade sector to the national economy, the President’s Media Division (PMD) said.
THIS decision was taken on the directions of President Ranil Wickremasighe realizing the untapped economic potential of trade and investment via linking with regional and global value chains is a major element of the Government’s economic revival programme
Towards this end, the ambition is to first integrate into South Asia and then expand to the east; China, Thailand and Indonesia linking to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) which consists of 30% of the world’s GDP, trade and population.”
“To achieve this overarching objective, there is no alternative but to formulate a strong institutional structure to manage Sri Lanka’s presence in international trade while removing the existing compartmentalization of trade-related institutions and eliminating the gaps in the approaches taken by multiple institutions,” the release said.
Accordingly, the Government has decided to reorganize the existing conventional institutional set-up and newly established the International Trade Office (ITO).
The ITO will interconnect all the relevant institutions and synergize their work to obtain the maximum output from the external trade sector to the national economy.
The ITO, once it is established through an Act of Parliament, will be headed by an Ambassador of International Trade, supported by an eminent group of advisors who have expertise in international trade and the core structure of the institution will consist of designated officers from all the relevant institutions attached to it, the PMD reported.
The National Trade Negotiation Committee which undertakes the Free Trade Negotiations will also be an integral part of the ITO.
The ITO will initially be established under the Ministry of Finance and subsequently, it will be amalgamated into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to implement Sri Lanka’s foreign trade development policy across the world with enhanced and effective coordination.
The President’s Media Division further added that until the establishment of the ITO is fully completed, the core staff of the institution have been built up at the Presidential Secretariat immediately to start functioning.
Accordingly, taking immediate measures to operationalize Sri Lanka – Singapore FTA (SLSFTA) which entered into force in May 2018 but has not been operationalized till now, will be the first task of the ITO
The Joint Committee set up in accordance with SLSFTA comprising designated officials from both countries will meet in January 2023 and finalize the modalities to agree on operationalization, it said.
“In parallel, by next January the ITO will resume negotiations of the three FTAs with India, China and Thailand.
The Chief Negotiator and the National Trade Negotiation Committee (NTNC) comprising Sub Committees on specific areas have been appointed by the Cabinet for this task.”
Only a day ago, renowned economist Dinesh Weerakkody was appointed as the Chairman of the Board of Investment (BOI) of Sri Lanka by President Ranil Wickremesinghe, on the sidelines of the SLPP-UNP-led Administration’s grapple against the worst economic crisis befallen the Island Nation since Independence.
Simple and yet a most salient appointment instrumental in addressing the recession, Weerakkody’s role as the BOI Chief would be very critical amidst the bureaucracy that actually pulls the strings behind the curtain preventing new investment opportunities from reaching the country, whereas business magnet Dhammika Perera not very long ago had stood up in his 10-day serving tenure as the Minister of Investment Promotion only to step down due to the then rising political turmoil.
Perera, whose contribution to the Investment Field of Sri Lanka during his very short term in Office was notably appraisable, had managed to resuscitate a system granting approval to projects initiated through the BOI within 24 hours that had been long lost within the walls of the institution. Perera was able to break the wheel of bureaucracy that had long been intimidating the Business Community and thereby malignant to receiving local investment opportunities to the country.
The system of approving payments within 24 hours was actually introduced to the Employees’ Trust Fund (ETF) in 2002 by its then Chairman Weerakkody, who, by doing so, had delivered a huge relief to the Working Community of Sri Lanka.
From concepts to fairy tales, endless scholars, intellectuals, business figures and lecturers lay down their versions of how the Sri Lankan public bodies should be developed, when the existence of those capable of implementing practical solutions, sadly, is a minority.
Perera knew what he was doing and served what he had signed up for by proving that he is one of the few people in Sri Lanka who actually can provide solutions. Neither did he join politics to gain any financial benefit, nor did he intend to, and against all odds on a scale of professional to personal criticism, Perera had efficiently managed to serve his duty.
Weerakkody, an individual coming along with a vast experience in economics and workspace, too is capable of implementing practical solutions and is expecting zero benefits in return, according to corporate sources. Weerakkody is a former Chairman of Commercial Bank and Hatton National Bank (HNB), two of the country’s leading commercial banks, and is a member of the Board of Directors of many leading companies in Sri Lanka. He has no corruption record, nor does he intend to commit one. Weerakkody is an experienced individual with international recognition and a portfolio referencing his contribution to multiple consortiums committed to economic revival at hand.
Corporate sources told LNW that Weerakkody would be a very valuable asset to President Wickremesinghe amidst this hardship and was a wise choice to navigate the BOI at this moment.
We sincerely wish Mr. Weerakkody to fulfill his responsibility whilst extending our thanks for stepping forward to accept a huge responsibility for the sake of the people of Sri Lanka. Pick up where Perera left, may you take the baton from him and continue the relay.
