Other News

5.6 million birth, marriage and death certificated computerized

A total of 5.6 million birth, marriage and death certificated have been computerized and this will enable a significant section of the general public to obtain copies of their relevant certificates speedily.

The process was initiated as a pilot project in the Colombo District and has been completed successfully. It will soon be replicated in all other districts.

It is learnt that people in the district of Colombo can obtain copies of certificates from relevant Divisional Secretariats.

Courtesy: Government Information Department

Kerawalapitiya Power Plant to add 300MW to the national grid from this month

15 August 2008

The combined cycle plant in Kerawalapitiya will be commissioned within this month, a spokesman for the Ministry of Power and Energy told 

The power plant will add 300 MW to the national grid which will contribute to fulfill the immediate demand for electricity in the country.

At the occasion of signing agreements for the commencement of construction of this project in April last year, the Minister of Power and Energy said that this is the first occasion that heavy fuel will be used on a combined power plant in Sri Lanka.

He pointed out that the US$ 306 million estimated as the total construction cost for this project will have the lowest energy cost per unit out of all the thermal power plants in the country because it will be operating on heavy fuel, saving at least Rs.10 billion annually.

Of the total cost of US$326 million, US$ 120 million was borne by five state entities who are the major share- holders of this project. The US$ 206 million required for the project was provided by foreign loans.

Concern regarding a possible shortage of power from 2007 to 2011 was the prime reason to set up the plant urgently, ministry sources said.

Courtesy: Government Information Department

Indian Premier meets President Rajapaksa

President Mahinda Rajapksa met with Indian Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh today (August 1) at the Presidential Secretariat, along with officials of both nations, and discussed matters of common interest.

Dr. Singh will me meeting with other South Asian leaders tomorrow and on Sunday at the 15th SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) Summit where key decisions are to be taken with respect to common regional issue including terrorism, food security and facilitation of trade among the member states.

President Rajapaksa bried Dr. Singh about developments in the political front, especially the commitment of the Government to implement the 13th Amendment to the Constitution as per the recommendations of the All Part Representatives’ Committee (APRC) as a first step towards resolving the long drawn conflict in the North and East. The 13th Amendment was a product of the Indo-Lanka Accord signed in 1987.

The President, referring to disputes that have occured regarding Tamil Nadu fishermen crossing over to Sri Lankan territorial waters, urged the Indian Premier to take measures to ensure that this does not happen so that unnecessary conflicts would not arise.

Dr. Singh stated that India could not launch out on a solitary journey in the region and stressed that the collective efforts of the SAARC member states is crucial for the overall upliftment of the respective peoples.

He also said that moves to remove barriers to free trade within the region are of great importance.

Courtesy: Government Information Department

Govt clarifies position on EP delegation’s aborted visit to Trinco

The Foreign Ministry has clarified the circumstances which led to the planned visit my the European Parliament’s delegation to Trincomalee being cancelled.

In this regard, the Ministry has issued the following statement:

The attention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been drawn to the reference made on the circumstances which led to the cancellation of the visit to Trincomalee by the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with South Asia. The latter’s press statement issued today (25/07/2008) states that “the last minute cancellation and a catalogue of chaos and confusion meant that the Delegation did not fly to Trincomalee. Despite repeated assurances, endless complications resulted in the party being turned back from the Ratmalana Airport,……….”.

In this regard, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wishes to outline the steps taken by the Government of Sri Lanka in facilitating the said visit as follows:-

(i) During the planning stage of the European Parliament delegation’s visit to Sri Lanka that just ended, the Government offered to transport the delegation in one of its aircraft which was declined by the European Commission office in Colombo, resulting in the latter seeking a private hire of an aircraft for this purpose;

(ii) The Ministry of Defence on 22 July 2008 contacted the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL) and requested that a flight to China Bay utilizing a 1989 Beech King Air B 200 aircraft belonging to a private company be approved for this purpose. Upon the private operating company being contacted, they said that they were planning to operate the said flight on 23 July 2008, if they could meet the requirements of CAASL. This necessitated amendments to the documentation procedure, as the aircraft had not been authorized to operate on domestic routes.

(iii) In order to facilitate the visit by the European Parliamentarians to the Eastern Province, a thorough review was made by the CAASL in the morning of 23 July 2008 where all technical staff had been present and a one-off conditional approval was granted for the operation of this flight.

It may be noted that although months of preparation time had been available, the said aircraft had arrived in Sri Lanka from South Africa only on Sunday 20 July 2008, with an operating crew inexperienced with the route, and therefore CAASL was compelled to stipulate that the Director/ Operations of the private company was required to complement the crew of the said flight.

Once the clearance for the aircraft by CAASL had been given in the morning hours, and the final segment of the ensuing procedural process was taking place, the Parliamentary delegation which was scheduled to depart at 1330 hours had decided by 1300 hours to return to their hotel from the Ratmalana airport. Since this decision was made by the delegation itself, it is factually incorrect to state that the party was “turned back” from the Ratmalana airport.

It is therefore, abundantly clear that the Sri Lanka government had done its utmost in facilitating the European Parliamentary delegation visit to Trincomalee, including the granting of approval for the operation of the flight given the acute time constraints. Undoubtedly, the government wished for this visit to take place to showcase the developments in the Eastern province following its return to democratic rule. However, it is evident, especially noting the date of arrival of the crew and aircraft i.e. 2 days prior to the visit, that the private flight operator had not followed the required operating procedure in a timely manner to fulfill the regulatory and safety responsibilities of the Civil Aviation authorities to undertake the transportation of the European Parliamentary delegation as scheduled, to Trincomalee.

The position articulated by the Parliamentary delegation in its statement on not visiting Trincomalee is regrettable and is open to misinterpretation. Therefore, it would have been more appropriate if the statement released by the visiting Parliamentarians could have been more responsibly presented.

Courtesy: Government Information Department

Sri Lanka to join International Tea Producers Forum

Plantations Industries Ministry will seek Cabinet approval soon to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding to ratify the International Tea Producers Forum (ITPF) which is  represented by  Kenya, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Tanzania, Malawi, and Zimbabwe.
The countries in this Forum are the major tea producers to the international market.

Most major tea producing countries have signed a memorandum of understanding to form the International Tea Producers Forum (ITPF) which will focus on issues of concern to producers, sources said.

The idea of such a forum emerged at the recent meeting of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation’s Inter-Governmental Group (IGG) on Tea in China.

The ITPF is modeled on the lines of the International Coffee Organization, International Pepper Community, and Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

China, which is mainly a green tea producer, is not a member of the producers’ forum.

According to major tea producer countries as well as the FAO there is a possibility of excess production of tea and this was highlighted at the IGG meeting in China.

While tea prices have soared in recent months, producer countries are worried that consumption is not keeping pace with tea production. The soaring cost of production, especially fuel and labour, is another worry.

“The ITPF has been mooted because there are certain matters that producers have in common which we cannot share at the IGG where producer and consumers get together on broader issues,” Tea Board chairman Lalith Hettiarachchi said

“Therefore, a tea producers forum has been a long felt need. The participating countries were unanimous in the decision and have signed the MoU to form the ITPF which member country governments need to ratify.  The formation of the international tea producers forum was something which we really pushed through at the Nairobi meeting of the IGG in November 2006. In between we had other meetings, one here in Colombo and another in India which was not well attended.”

But at the third meeting in China major tea exporting nations met outside the IGG to finalise draft agreement and agenda for the forum.

Courtesy: Government Information Department