Biodiversity Sri Lanka (BSL), sustainability focused organisation initiated by Dilmah Tea, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, recently launched collaboration amongst businesses and government to restore up to 25 acres of degraded mangrove forest patches in the Anawilundawa Wetland Sanctuary.

The initiative is linked to the critical importance of restoring degraded wetlands, to harness the social, environmental and economic benefits of mangroves, through the Life to Our Mangroves project, BSL said in a media release.

The project partners, all members of BSL, will fund the restoration effort over five years, whilst guidance and leadership will be provided by the Department of Wildlife Conservation. BSL will obtain further technical support from Wayamba University.

BSL’s landmark multi-partner public private partnership project ‘LIFE’ which recently completed four years of progress in restoring 12 hectares of degraded fern land located in Opatha, within the Kanneliya Conservation Forest is the inspiration for this unique yet timely project.

Anawilundawa Wetland Sanctuary is one of only six RAMSAR wetlands in the country, located along the coastal belt between Chilaw and Puttalam cities. Comprising varying forest wetland ecosystems including coastal saltwater ecosystems, and freshwater lakes, the Sanctuary has international significance and also features mangroves.

The restoration of the degraded site will incorporate input from all stakeholders to maximise social, environmental and economic impact.

The commitment was formalised at a ceremony held in the garden of the Dilmah head office just outside Colombo. Together with the Chairperson of BSL’s Board of Directors, Dilhan C. Fernando, heads and representatives of the other collaborating private companies, Citizens Development Business Finance PLC, Dole Lanka Pvt Ltd, Dynawash Ltd, Eswaran Brothers Exports (Pvt) Ltd, National Development Bank PLC, joined the Biodiversity Sri Lanka team at the event.

Biodiversity Sri Lanka originated in 2012 as the Business & Biodiversity Platform, to encourage and inspire business in conservation and restoration.

BSL initiated ‘Life to Our Mangroves’ to demonstrate the value of mangrove restoration as a Nature-based Solution (NbS) with the power to address climate change, and socio-economic development challenges – mangroves are ten times more powerful than terrestrial forests in absorbing carbon.

The project adds livelihood benefits to the communities in and around the site and offers businesses an opportunity to offset their carbon footprint while paving the way for a blue carbon future in Sri Lanka.
Dilmah, a Sri Lankan family tea business, is a proponent of Blue

Carbon initiatives have launched its own projects including seaweed cultivation in Mannar and mangrove restoration in Kalpitiya.

The Sri Lankan Airline management has condemned the action of the Airline Pilots Guild of Sri Lanka (ALPGSL) trade union action to work to the letter.

However A senior spokesman for the ALPGSL said the strike was prompted by the failure of the SriLankan Airlines administration to provide a fair solution to its demands.

Accordingly, the pilots of SriLankan Airlines will only perform the flight duties assigned to them on their flight list and will refrain from performing duties on approved annual and other public holidays, the senior spokesman said.

He said SriLankan Airlines did not have enough pilots to run the flight frequently. However, its members had so far reported for duty without any hesitation, even disregarding annual leave and other approved holidays to fill the gap.

He also said they had extended their fullest support to the airline by approving even changes to their to-do list for the month.

He said his membership was committed to flying to any country and repatriating Sri Lankans, regardless of the risk to themselves or their family members. He added that they were committed to their duty, even in the face of epidemics, because they put the national interest first.

He further said that SriLankan Airlines has been making a monthly profit with increased passenger arrivals, but the unresolved response to its demands is not an acceptable situation.

The senior spokesman added that the trade union action of ‘work-to-rule’ would continue until the pilots get a fair solution.

SriLankan Airlines has been supporting the national economy and country since the closure of the Bandaranaike International Airport in March 2020 with the outbreak of COVID-19 by flying stranded Sri Lankans home and facilitating international trade by maintaining the vital link between Sri Lanka and the rest of the world.

Nearly the entire fleet of the Airline was grounded due to the closure of airports and travel restrictions imposed by various countries in the past nine months.

As a result, the Airline has had to cope with unprecedented revenue losses owing to the reduced number of flights being operated, namely for repatriation of fellow citizens and transportation of essential goods including medical supplies.

It is against this stressful backdrop that members of the executive committee of the Airline Pilots‛ Guild (ALPG) have decided to act in a self-centered manner, not only causing severe disruptions to the Airline‛s operations but jeopardizing the Airline as well as the development efforts of the country.

The ALPG has forced members to resort to unacceptable action by refraining from consenting to report to work on rostered off-days by refusing the duty call or being unresponsive to calls from the Company.

Therefore, the Board and the Management of the Airline are thoroughly disappointed that one segment of the Airline‛s employees is intentionally undermining the efforts of the rest of the committed and valuable employees of the company and the determination of the Government of Sri Lanka.

Jointly, the Board, Management and dedicated employees of the Airline vehemently condemn these untimely and selfish actions of the ALPG.

Sri Lanka’s over 30 year discarded Kantale Sugar factory and its land is set to be revived and restructured jointly by SLI Development Pte. Ltd, Singapore and its original investor M G Sugars Lanka (Pvt) Ltd under Built Operation and Transfer (BOT) agreement, Finance Ministry cabinet paper revealed.

According to this memorandum, this factory and land will be leased to the Singaporean company for ten years on the basis of granting 85 percent of shares to the investor and 15 percent to the government for an investment of US$ 300 million.

In the next shareholding ratio will be changed to 75 percent to 25 percent and keep on changing in accordance with s25 percent share reduction basis to the end of the BOT agreement.

The lease agreement will be signed by the M G Sugars Lanka, SLI Development and the treasury soon after the receiving of cabinet approval for this arrangement, Finance Ministry sources said adding that the Attorney General has given consent to go ahead with the project.

Conveying its protest to government authorities, Convenor of the Federation of National Organisations prominent Sinhala writer, poet Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekera noted that this was a pointblank handing over of the Kantale sugar factory and 20000 acres of fertile land to a Singapore company to set up Asia’s largest Ethanol production factory with the approval of the cabinet.

The new investment agreement to be signed will be to revive and restructure Kantale Sugar factory to process 4000 Tons of sugarcane cane per day and manufacture 72,000 MT sugar per year,production of ethanol , generation of electricity and dairy products, as per the approval which is to be granted by the Cabinet of Ministers.

Several previous attempts to restore the Kantale operation had failed while the action taken for the revival of the factory during the previous regime abruptly halted following a bribery scandal involving two senior government officials, including Chief of Staff of the then President Maithripala Sirisena.

They had allegedly blocked the transfer of machinery, scrap metal and other assets belonging to the Kantale sugar factory to a joint venture company that had signed a $ 100 million deal to revive the facility.

The investors planned to set up a state-of-the-art factory with world-renowned SLI experts Moussy Salem and Mendel Gluck spearheading the project.

The team consists of Booker Tate, Grupo TSK would handle industrial EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) and O&M (Operations and Maintenance) along with Netafim-world leaders in irrigation technology and equipment, for the agricultural EPC and O&M, the company said .

Hogan Lovell together with financial advisers Fieldstone, have developed all contracts and financial models for the Kantale project, the company stated.

The company said: “The landmark project will welcome a 27.5 MW maximum capacity cogeneration plant from biomass, with an export of 10 MW to the National Grid.

This will produce 80,000 tons of direct consumption sugar per annum to the local market, resulting in foreign exchange savings of approximately US$50 million per annum in payments for imported sugar.

This project will offer progressive solutions to the economic development of the Trincomalee district region and wider rural economy.

Direct employment opportunities will see 3,500 local people salaried, and a further 3,000 farmer families will benefit.

To fulfill the proposed expansions, plans to train a cadre of skilled workers will be put in motion, and 10,000-15,000 indirect employment opportunities will be created nationwide.

The Kantale Sugar Factory, in the 1960’s was considered as the largest sugar production facility in Asia, providing about 10,000 direct and indirect job opportunities.

The factory complex also had luxury housing, sports club, shopping complex and social club which are now abandoned.

It was also running at a profit and from 1980 to 1986, the factory earned a Rs. 70 million profit.

However in 1993 the then UNP government handed it over to a private company which resulted in a closure by the end of 1999.