Sri Lankan News

Sri Lanka’s Colombo metropolitan is going to have fun and frolic in a dedicated area to serve for night life in the post war era. Sri Lanka especially the city of Colombo is becoming the busiest town with business booming with influx of large number of tourists and travelers.

In the meantime the government has also drawn up a master plan to reclaim around  500 acres of  land in the sea south of Colombo to set up extravaganza village with all fun and frolic under the tourism development plan.

At a widely attended session, they provided national and international media in Tokyo with a detailed account of the present situation in Sri Lanka, the progress which had been made with regard to reconstruction during the last year, and the Government’s plans for the future.

The two Ministers, at a meeting with the Japan-Sri Lanka Business Co-operation Committee presided over by Mr. Sumitaka Fujita, Chairman of the Committee, the Ministers explained to Japanese entrepreneurs the special advantages of Sri Lanka at this time, with regard to trade and investment. “Geographical location of the country, bilateral trade agreements with India and Pakistan, strong protection under legal and constitutional provisions, incentives offered by the Board of Investment and the uniquely high calibre human resources in Sri Lanka.are the advantageous for the prospective investor” they said.

Ministers Prof. Peiris and Basil Rajapaksa addressed the Japan Platform consisting of representatives of Japanese NGOs operating in Sri Lanka.  The Ministers thanked the NGOs for their consistent  support and involvement at the most difficult of times.  During the question and answer session which followed, practical solutions were found to the issues identified by the NGOs.  They expressed their eagerness to continue engagement on an extended scale, with the achievement of normalcy and tranquility.

On the final day of their official visit to Japan, the Sri Lankan Ministers of External Affairs and Economic Development are due to have discussions with Mr. Katsuya Okada, Japan’s Minister of Foreign  Affairs and Mr. Masayuki Naoshima, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry.

The high-level committee appointed by the Cabinet for the purchase of the controlling shares of the Shell Lanka Gas Company expects to
complete the negotiations within the next two days. The Chairman of the Committee and the Secretary to the Prime Minister Mr. S.Amerasekera told the Information Department this morning that the Bank of Ceylon has completed the Due Diligence report prepared by the Bank in this regard and the Committee expects to receive the report today in order to proceed with the negotiation process.

The other members of this high-level Committee are Secretary to the Ministry of Petroleum Industries Mr. H.T.M.Jayawardene, Secretary to the Ministry of Power and Energy, Mr. M.M.C.Fernandes, Secretary to the Ministry of Transport Dr. Lalithsiri Gunaruwan, and Deputy Secretary to the Treasury , Mr. U.S.Seneviratne.

Shell Gas is the leading liquefied petroleum distributor with another market follower the Laughs Gas in Sri Lanka and distribution by the market leader amounts to 550 tons a day. The Sapugaskanda refinery,  due to its limited production capacity, provides 50 Tons/day of this amount and the rest is imported.

The Government has decided to repurchase the 51% stake in the Firm held by Shell, following privatization of this Institution by the previous government. The balance 49% is owned by the government. With the acquisition of the controlling shares of this Company, the government will be able to purchase gas in the global open market at competitive prices and distribute to the consumer at economical rates.(niz)