The Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court today (12) has ordered the further remand of four persons including Dhanish Ali, who are remanded for the charge of entering the President’s House as well as the National Television, until the 26th.
At the time the case was called, the Fort Police requested the authorities to remand the accused as the relevant investigations have not yet been completed.
According to the request, the court has issued the order.
Sajith Premadasa, leader of the opposition, questioned the problems faced by the village officers scattered all over the country under Standing Order 27(2) in Parliament today (12).
Litro Gas Lanka Ltd has called a fresh LP Gas tender for the year 2023 tentatively commencing from November 2022 from eligible and qualified bidders to meet the demand of domestic consumers.
The latest tender is for 280,000 metric tonnes (MT) and bidders should submit their bids on or before August 15, 2022 to the Chairman of the Standing Cabinet appointed Procurement Committee, Litro Gas Lanka Ltd, according to the bid document.
Sri Lanka’s LP Gas shortage is set to handle effectively with the procurement of 280,000 MT of LP gas along with the arrival of over 70,000 MT of gas consignments within the next four months, Finance Ministry sources divulged.
The new one year term tender of 280,000 MT of LP gas has been floated following the cancellation of the previous tender of the same quantity of LP Gas awarded to Siam Gas at US$96 per metric ton and opting to buy 100,000 MT of gas at a cost of $129 per metric ton from an Oman company OQ Trading.
A top official of the Finance Ministry, a stakeholder of Litro Gas Company, noted that a stock of over 30,000 MT of liquefied petroleum gas has already been received by the company from the 100,000 MT of the gas contract given to OQ Trading Company recently.
Litro Gas Lanka has taken every necessary action to provide LP gas filled cylinders to consumers via its network consisting of 42 distributors, approximately 14,000 point-of-sale locations and 1,500 home delivery hubs, a company official said.
Litro gas Chairman Muditha Peiris disclosed that during the past 22 days, Litro Gas has released 2.7 million domestic gas cylinders to the market.
The company has received more than 10 gas shipments and it has already managed to receive gas stocks for the month of August, he claimed.
With the receipt of continuous gas cargo, it has been able to overcome the gas shortage in the country, he revealed.
He said the supply will continue despite inclement weather conditions, adding that the shortage has been eliminated to a greater extent.
Litro has received over 10,000 MT of LP Gas in three shipments in July and a large-sized tanker carrying 25,000 MT of gas is scheduled to reach the Colombo Port soon.
This will be the final consignment out of the 33,000 MT of LP gas ordered for the month of July in accordance with the tender to procure 100,000 MT of LP gas for the next four months.
The plan is to have the large vessel pump gas into much smaller vessels and ship them to Sri Lanka, he added noting that the initial payments for the vessels that departed Oman have already been made.
In addition, he said that with the arrival of these shipments, it will be possible to issue a sufficient number of domestic gas cylinders to meet the gas requirements of the country
As Sri Lanka grapples with economic and political turmoil with some help from India and China, the lack of US presence stands out, but analysts say this may be due to Washington’s strategic convergence with New Delhi, even if it could do more to support Colombo.
The US is likely to take on a stronger role in Sri Lanka’s economy only after Colombo reaches a debt restructuring agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the experts added.
India has promised to remain supportive of President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s new administration as Sri Lanka struggles with a shortage of food, fuel and medicines.
New Delhi has provided about US$1.5 billion to Colombo for critical imports, and another US$3.8 billion in the form of currency swaps and credit lines. China rejected Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring request, but provided about US$75 million in humanitarian aid and promised to “play a positive role” in Colombo’s talks with the IMF.
The US assistance was more modest, with the US Agency for International Development (USAid) announcing US$11.75 million in economic crisis aid in June and President Joe Biden promising another US$20 million to boost food security.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken last month called on Sri Lanka’s leaders to quickly find long-term solutions to the crisis. USAid administrator Samantha Power last week hailed India’s swift move to assist Colombo, but slammed China for offering “opaque loan deals at higher interest rates than other lenders”.
Bankrupt Sri Lanka has suspended repayment on its US$51 billion foreign loans. It is also preparing a debt restructuring plan, a condition for a rescue package it is negotiating with the IMF. China, which accounts for 10 per cent of Sri Lanka’s debt, has resisted offering a debt cut.
In response to Power’s remarks, China’s foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said last Thursday that tariff barriers imposed by the US had aggravated the economic and financial situation of Sri Lanka and other developing countries.
The US should ask itself what it was doing for the sustainable development of nations like Sri Lanka, and “not use every opportunity to blame, smear other countries and engage in geopolitical games without any bottom line”, Zhao said.
Anu Anwar, a fellow at Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, said since the US supported India’s regional leadership, Delhi’s ongoing efforts in resolving Sri Lanka’s crisis “complement US interests
CHEC Port City Colombo in collaboration with the Colombo Port City Economic Commission (CPCEC ) successfully introduced the Special Economic Zone to 50 plus potential investors and members at a specially curated Breakfast meeting held at the Business Forum Event.
During the Business Forum senior management of Colombo Port City Commision (CPCC) and the CPCEC had meaningful one-on-one dialogues with leading institutions and leaders from the business community that cited a Special Economic Zone in Colombo was paramount in attracting Foreign Direct investment.
The event was a global platform for Sri Lanka’s first service-oriented Special Economic Zone (SEZ) to be showcased in the Business Forum, which was held in Kigali, Rwanda from the 21st to the 23rd of June 2022.
As a strategic partner of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council (CWEIC), Port City Colombo participated as a proud knowledge partner of the Commonwealth Business Forum, held alongside the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Kigali.
It was the first and largest, in-person gathering for governments and businesses across the Commonwealth since the COVID-19 pandemic.
CHOGM 2022 attracted over 1,700 delegates from over 90 countries. Additionally, the Commonwealth has lately, embarked driving forward businesses and cultivating synergies amongst its member nations whilst also expanding upon the member nations of the Commonwealth itself.
Sri Lanka has always been touted for its strategic location. Besides its natural geographical advantage,it has akso connected to global supply chains.
Additionally, several bi-lateral and multilateral trade agreements are in place and there were several government’s initiatives to promote trade.
Overall, the event allowed CHEC Port City to engage and market the SEZ to a global audience whilst also inundating them on the value proposition at play and indicating why this could be a service-based hub in the South Asian region.
Given the interest we garnered during the event, the next step in realising the project’s potential is for the regulations to be passed and enacted so that the go-to-market.
Japan has halted 12 projects under Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Sri Lanka until the International Monetary Fund (IMF) provides a roadmap to the crisis-hit island, a top minister said.
“Twelve projects funded by Japan under JICA will be suspended until the IMF establishes a roadmap on Sri Lanka’s debts and its sustainability because the country has been declared bankrupt,” Minister of Ports, Shipping and Aviation Nimal Siripala de Silva told parliament on Wednesday August 10.
Sri Lanka’s relations with Japan was tested in the last two years after former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa who was closer to China scrapped a JICA-funded light railway transit (LRT) project claiming it was too expensive and unilaterally cancelled a 500 million US dollars trilateral deal with India and Japan to develop the Eastern Container Terminal (ECT) of the Colombo Port.
The LRT project was a 1.5 billion US dollar soft-loan project that would have solved some of the traffic issues in the Malabe corridor.
Sri Lanka has recently been trying to rebuild relations with Japan who previously poured many millions of dollars in funds to the country.
Since 1965, the Government has obtained Japanese Official Development Assistance amounting USD 8,829 million for 120 development projects and Japanese Assistance is provided through various schemes such as Yen loans packages, Project Grant Aid, Non-Project Grant Aid, Feasibility Studies and Technical Cooperation programmes.
Currently, 14 projects with approx. total value of USD 2500 million are being implemented under the JICA loan assistance mainly under the sector of Power, Water Supply and Drainage, Ports, Transport, Health, Telecommunication, and Rural Development etc.
Explaining the current progress of the development projects, a senior official said that the government expects the assistance of JICA in the areas of agriculture, skills development, health, and irrigation for the coming year.
Inspite of Sri Lanka’s economic and political issues, JICA, together with the Ministry of Health, launched a technical cooperation project with a budget of Rs.300 Million to strengthen capacities in the preparedness and development for diagnostics and treatment services to combat COVID-19, and the equipment and online training opportunities have been provided to the targeted hospitals.
In the Project, the essential equipment, including ventilator, blood gas analyzer, real time PCR machine, automated RNA/DNA extractor, and ultra-low temperature freezer, are distributed to the base hospitals in Teldeniya, Warakapola, Walikanda, Pimbura, Nawalapitiya, Hingurakgoda, Karawanella, and Avissavella (for mainly treatment) and District General Hospital Hambantota (for particularly PCR tests).
One of the specific objectives of this project is to improve quality of medical services relating to COVID-19 in the targeted hospitals by building up their operational management capacities.
The Project expects that the targeted hospitals appropriately test, diagnose, treat, and observe infected patients and those suspected of being infected, and perform effective and efficient operation management in the event of the pandemic.
02nd August 2022
Avtra, a world leader in providing research-backed cutting-edge technology solutions for the aviation and tourism sectors, recently commemorated its fifth-year anniversary, bringing together the highly talented and diverse team based in Colombo on an excursion and making a pledge to revolutionizing travel in the next 55 years. This incredible milestone, and what’s yet to come, hints to the growing resilience and agility of Avtra amidst the many unprecedented disruptions to the industry.
Backed by industry professionals with decades of experience, Avtra’s solutions are some of the most modern, versatile and innovative technological advancements used by renowned airlines, airports and travel companies worldwide.
Avtra is now gearing up to expand its talent pool to cater to the increasing demand and are actively looking for creative individuals in the areas of software development, business intelligence, artificial intelligence, and application support, to complement and sustain its ambitious commitment and excellence to design and build competitive solutions from the ground-up that are robust, secure, scalable and responsive.
“To all our employees, customers, stakeholders and friends – I thank you for your continued commitment to Avtra. We look forward to celebrating more success stories as we continue our quest to become the global aviation solutions provider of choice, bringing about innovations and immersive user experience for not only airlines and travel companies but also for travelers everywhere.”, the Avtra’s Co-Founder Amir Hashemi added.
“It’s been a spectacular journey for all of us here at Avtra as we celebrate five years of progressive success by working together in reinventing and reshaping the future of the airline and travel industries. Our people are our heroes, and their relentless dedication and passion is truly outstanding. Sri Lanka undoubtedly holds immense potential with access to diverse talent and skills in the technology sphere,” commented Avtra’s Co-Founder Nasly Yoosuf.
Yoosuf added, “We are embarking on an expansion drive to take on challenges and conquer new horizons by creating meaningful and impactful solutions that are faster, sturdier and more stable, lightweight, and far more cost-effective.”
One of its most sough-after products is the new-generation Avtra Skaii Passenger Service System (Avtra PSS) which provides airlines of any size and business model with a seamless reservation experience to their valuable passengers, by providing optimum operational scalability and flexibility that best suits their specific needs, and giving them an instant platform to sell tickets through Avtra’s back-office portal integrated with various distribution channels.
In addition, Avtra also offers an integrated departure control system (Avtra DCS) as well as a frequent flyer program (Avtra FFP), enabling airlines to manage the entire journey and passenger customer relationship process, in a centralized and cost-effective way. Other solutions include Avtra CRM, Avtra Weight & Balance (W&B) and Avtra ConnectOTA.
Avtra was named the winner under the consumer segment in the media, tourism and retail category at the prestigious APICTA Awards 2020-2021, and earlier this year was awarded two Silver awards for its Avtra Skaii Passenger Service System and Weight & Balance solutions at the National ICT Awards organized by the Sri Lankan section of the BCS – The Chartered Institute for IT.
Avtra also donated a tailored reservations system to Air Serv as part of its global initiative to support humanitarian endeavors in June this year, which will help increase the efficiency of the humanitarian organization’s air operations going forward.
Avtra is a specialist IT provider for the airline industry, with a state-of-the-art R&D center based in Colombo and sales and marketing offices in UAE and Cyprus. Avtra today is a result of many years of dedication and hard work. It has been built from scratch, incorporating the latest open technologies- in a multitiered modular architecture- allowing for the delivery of end-to-end inventory control and distribution for airlines of all sizes and business models. For more information about Avtra, please visit www.avtra.com.
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In recognition of his expert knowledge and significant contribution to the field of interior designing more specifically on pioneering modular kitchens and home interiors, Kitchen & Bedroom’s Dr. Mohammed Rushmi Sacquaff was conferred with the title of Doctorate in Interior Designing by the American National Business University, Delaware, USA.
The University awarded Dr. Sacquaff a Honoris Causa Doctorate based on his past experiences and knowledge through the route of Accreditation of Prior Learning. This achievement reflects the continued passion and dedication of Dr. Sacquaff in being updated with emerging and contemporary themes in the interior space, further strengthening his capabilities and competencies together with his academic rigor.
Dr. Sacquaff was instrumental in the success and growth of Kitchen & Bedroom, steering it to be one of the most sought-after interior planning and designing outfits that brings out the perfect blend of luxury, comfort and functionality complementing today’s living spaces.
‘I am very delighted to been awarded a Doctorate. I firmly believe that learning is a never-ending journey and the more you have an aptitude to gain knowledge with an open mind, the more you are able to take on risks and challenges and explore new horizons. Sri Lanka has an incredible pool of creative and talented designers and I am committed to doing the best I can to uplift our potential in the global arena,’ said Dr. Sacquaff.
In his capacity as the Group CEO, Dr. Sacquaff continues to mentor and lead a diverse team of highly qualified and talented interior designers, inspiring them with refined artistry and craftsmanship and reinstating the values and customer-centric approach to every project, together with his wife Fathima Zuhara who is also a Director of Kitchen & Bedroom.
Last year, Dr. Sacquaff was named ‘Best CEO of the Year’ under the Platinum- Medium Category at BIO Awards, was recently conferred as Master Project Manager (MPM) and designated as Fellow of the American Academy of Project Management (FAAPM). Dr. Sacquaff was also named an Ambassador for Peace by the Centre for Peace Studies (CPS).
Political sources say that a new cabinet will be appointed next week.
According to the views expressed in the discussions held with all the parties to form an all-party government, an all-party government will be formed instead of an all-party government.
According to the sources, the all-party government cabinet will be appointed by adding representatives from other parties to the existing cabinet.
President Ranil Wickramasinghe says that his aim is to prepare a governance structure with fair representation for each party.
The President mentioned this in the discussions held at the Presidential Office yesterday (10) afternoon with several parties on the formation of an all-party government.
The All Ceylon Muslim Congress led by MP Rishad Badiuddin, the group including MP Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress led by MP Rauf Hakeem, the Tamil Makkal Thesia Kuttani Party led by MP CV Wigneswaran,The Tamil Progressive Alliance led by MP Mano Ganesan.
President Ranil Wickramasinghe said that the work of appointing parliamentary sectoral oversight committees is currently underway and noted that he has recognized the need to establish several interim committees.
He pointed out that the main goal is to establish the National Assembly and said that the representation of all parties and full representation of other parties and groups in the alliances is necessary for that.
Wickramasinghe explained the importance of giving committee chairpersons the same power and representation as cabinet ministers and having them participate in cabinet discussions when necessary.
He further requested that the respective parties discuss and inform him whether they represent the committee system or not, whether they will join the government.
Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, President’s Secretary Saman Ekanayake, and President’s Additional Secretary Lawyer Chaminda Kularatne were also present for the discussions.
