Record B’onion harvest in the North
With the harvesting season of B’ Onions currently underway in Jaffna, several farmers were seen uprooting bountiful harvests this time. Pix by Amila Gamage.
SriLankan A330 aircraft deal boomeranged on PIA CEO
The A330 aircraft deal, between Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and SriLankan Airlines hailed by the CEO of the national carrier as very successful, has boomeranged against his PIA counterpart now faced with allegations of corruption relating to the deal. On Thursday, the Pakistan government barred the CEO of PIA, Bernd Hildenbrand, a German national, from [...]
Sri Lanka’s investors in a dilemma owing to high financial costs
Sri Lanka’s investors are in a dilemma owing to high financial cost for their ongoing and proposed projects as a result of the borrowing rate hike to a new high at present, several local and foreign investors complained. Some of the ongoing and proposed mega projects will have to be halted midway due to high [...]
SriLankan delays zero commission plan on travel agents
National carrier SriLankan Airlines has postponed earlier plans to enforce on April 1, zero commissions on ticket sales by travel agents. The new enforcement date now is July 1. The carrier made this announcement following a meeting with the Travel Agents Association of Sri Lanka (TAASL) and the International Air Transport Association-Sri Lanka (IATA-SL) on [...]
Transition at Dhammika’s Rocell ‘smooth’
The transition at Dhammika Perera-controlled Royal Ceramics PLC (Rocell) was smooth last week as the relationship between the main shareholder and its former Managing Director Nimal Perera had been more or less been strained almost two years ago, sources close to both parties said. On the back of stepping down from Chairman / Non Executive [...]
Government entertains unsolicited project proposals
Sri Lanka government entertains unsolicited proposals made to implement mega development projects with high foreign investments beneficial for the country under a new procurement system on the lines of ‘Swiss Challenge’ process, Finance Ministry sources said. Under the ‘Swiss Challenge’ process an unsolicited project proposal made by a company to the government is to be [...]
Fountains of knowledge
It was a very intriguing topic. Earlier this month, Don Carlson, an education specialist from Microsoft Singapore visiting Colombo, and I were discussing education into the 21st century when we came to the point of: Will teaching as a vocation, survive this century? Will teachers be fossils in the future? Will newer teaching methods mean [...]
Ranatunga wants to run ECT, Hambantota ports
T0he government and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) have differed opinions on how to run the ports to achieve profitability, not only pertaining to the Hambantota port deal with the Chinese firm but also with the new East Container Terminal (ECT) issue. The ECT is urgently required to overcome a drop in volumes from [...]
HNB eyes SME, micro finance firms in overseas
Hatton National Bank’s (HNB) micro finance arm, HNB Grameen, is to list its shares in the Colombo Stock Exchange(CSE) shortly, Jonathan Alles, Managing Director / CEO HNB told the Business Times on the sidelines of the HNB Investor Forum recently. “We aim to list HNB Grameen in less than a year,” he said. The DWM [...]
100 MW Korean solar power project hangs in balance
Emphasising the need of adopting proper tender procedure,Sri Lanka’s Power and Energy Ministry appears to be delaying or dropping a Korean Company’s offer to set up a 100 MW Solar Power Plant, to be done on a Turnkey Basis and handed over to the government which comes with project funding, Korean investors of the project [...]
New 1 rupee and 5 rupees coins from CB
A new set of one rupee and five rupees coins is to be issued for circulation by Sri Lanka’s Central Bank after “changing the metal/alloy from brass plated steel (gold colour) to stainless steel (silver colour)”. The edge lettering of the five rupee coin has been removed in the new stainless steel coin. All other [...]
Shangri-La Colombo apartments practise no cash investment policy
Those who aspire to own condominiums at ‘One Gale Face’, the mixed development project of Shangri-La Colombo will need to ‘fool proof’ their investments. Shangri-La Colombo and Hambantota Resort and Spa Deputy General Manager, Rajeev Garg told the Business Times on the sidelines of the soft launch of their show luxury apartment, that some 50 [...]
SEC releases Capital Market Strategy 2020
The Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC) has released its ‘Capital Market Strategy 2020’, a comprehensive transformative plan for Sri Lanka’s capital market, which has been sanctioned by the Cabinet, SEC officials said. They said that this was done with the intention of providing strategic clarity to market participants and the general public. [...]
Blue Mountain Group to reforest 125 acres at Wilpattu
The city of Colombo which is fast becoming a concrete jungle is to be greened after clearing a few constraints. A media briefing was held in Colombo this week to announce the efforts made by Blue Mountain Group (BMG) in collaboration with the Forest Department to reforest a 125-acre land in Wilpattu in the Puttalam [...]
Entries open for Cinnamon Sri Lanka Photo Contest 2017
Entries are now open for the Cinnamon Travel Photography and Videography Awards with the deadline for submissions being May 15. This is a bi-annual competition, celebrating the best photography and videography captured in Sri Lanka by anyone of any nationality and any level of experience.Travellers, photographers and videography enthusiasts who have visited and captured Sri [...]
New CEO at Insee Cement
Nandana Ekanayake has been appointed the new CEO at Siam City Cement (Lanka) Ltd, formerly Holcim. He was the Finance Director and Head of Divestment project of Siam City Cement (Vietnam) Ltd, (formerly known as Holcim Vietnam Ltd) and will take over the reins of INSEE Cement in Sri Lanka from Phillippe Richart, who has [...]
Dilmah Tea packed fresh in Carbon Neutral Facility
Dilmah has successfully fulfilled a pledge made in 2014 by its Founder, Merrill J. Fernando, to become a Carbon Neutrality facility by 2017, further strengthening our commitment to reduce our impact on the environment. Through initiatives such as ‘Greening Batticaloa’ and ‘Biochar Application’, Dilmah was able to actively reduce our carbon footprint to zero, thus [...]
Golden Key Hospital acquires latest technology in surgical microscopy
The Golden Key Hospital has enhanced its capabilities in retinal and cataract surgery with the acquisition of sophisticated new equipment from Zeiss, a world leader in optical systems and medical devices. Described as a ‘new dimension in visualisation,’ the Opmi Lumera 700 from Zeiss gives the surgeon more information in its eyepiece with real-time Optical [...]
Deloitte overtakes PwC as world’s largest firm
Deloitte has wrestled back its crown as the biggest firm in the world by fee income following a strong year, the global accounting firm said in a media release last week. Deloitte powered ahead in 2016 as its global fee income grew by 5 per cent to US$36.8 billion (£29.52 billion), nudging ahead of “Big [...]
Cathay Pacific, rising high in Asia’s overcrowded skies
It’s an overcast day in Hong Kong and Niki sits alone outside the Cathay Pacific Headquarters. Since 2006 the exact replica of the airline’s second aircraft, Niki, has been the face that greets those who enter the massive structure, serving as a symbol of the airline’s years of service in Hong Kong. Decked in the [...]
Using technology as a tool to create awareness on sustainability among corporates
While technology is playing a major role in today’s context in getting the message across to the public and young millennials at large, it can be used as a tool to create awareness about sustainability among everyone in this new era. These comments were made by UN Sri Lanka Resident Coordinator and UNDP Sri Lanka [...]
BRJW launches LifeSaver Purification equipment in Sri Lanka
B.R.J.W Enterprises in collaboration with LifeSaver UK has launched state-of-the-art Water Purification Equipment in Sri Lanka. “The launch took place this week at the Ministry of Finance with Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake providing leadership and for the programme,” the company said in a media release. Lifesaver Water Purification equipment has military grade patent filters in [...]
Sri Lanka WebAds – A new way to advertise
Mobile Video Marketing – the latest trend in online advertising, beating the good old newspaper and TV advertising is now catching on in Sri Lanka, after a cyber platform for a virtual trade/business video directory was created for the first time by an IT specialist and a lawyer. Gayendra Wickramarathna, an IT specialist cum a [...]
World Bank in favour of salvaging tea plantations
The World Bank is currently looking at the possibilities of funding the plantations in a bid to salvage what is left of it. This was highlighted at the AGM held recently in Colombo of an ex-planters grouping titled The Mascots by its President Devaka Wickramasuriya who stated that the World Bank had favourably looked at [...]
Kids to code computer programmes
Apreschooler today will never drive a car when he grows up. Because, well, the cars will not need drivers. With all the new-fangled technological leaps that are in place, all cars will be driverless. With unavoidable tech-filled futures ahead of this iGeneration, there’s little else that children are exposed to other than computers and related [...]
Microsoft’s ‘Egg’ solution to installing mobile classrooms in remote and deprived regions
Sri Lanka is no stranger to the transformation of containers to more innovative use at the end of its ‘tenure’. There are one or two logistics companies that have created and innovated with containers as office space or even classrooms as seen recently in an educational institute at Bambalapitiya. With space becoming an issue in [...]
Decline in female labour migration; beyond the numbers
For decades, female labour migrants, the majority of whom were “housemaids” constituted the largest labour migrant population from Sri Lanka. In 1997, women accounted for 75 per cent of all migrant labour. However, the tide has now turned, with the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) pointing out that male migrants are fast outpacing [...]
Hela Clothing to sharpen apparel industry skills with Microsoft
Hela Clothing, a leading apparel manufacturer, partnering with Microsoft recently embraced digital transformation to revitalise the apparel industry. As the shift to a more digitally enhanced manufacturing era accelerates, the opportunity to deliver long-term digital solutions and insights has accelerated Hela Clothing’s ambition for modern, secure and efficient solutions such as Microsoft’s Office365 and Hyper-V [...]
ICTA, National Museums launch Sri Lanka Museums Mobile App
The Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) recently designed and developed the Sri Lanka Museums Mobile application for the Department of National Museums. It is available on Android/iOS, which will provide visitors with not just rich content, but also more interactive views of museum items, according to an ICTA media release. “The [...]
Legal tangle tightens on LNG power plant in Hambantota
The Sri Lankan Government’s ambitious plans to establish Liquid Natural Gas Power (LNG) plant in collaboration with Chinese companies have to be put on hold till the clearing of a legal issue of a breach of contract with Greenlink Global Consulting Inc. (Greenlink) on a Hambantota LNG Energy Project (HEP). The government, particularly Ministry of [...]
NDB to focus on local regional expansion, B’desh operations
National Development Bank PLC (NDB) will focus more of its investment banking in Bangladesh while expanding regionally in Sri Lanka, officials said. The Bangladesh operation is a venture that was set up after the NDB Group acquired a controlling stake (77.8 per cent) in Capital Market Services Ltd, a licensed merchant bank in Bangladesh in [...]
German tourism giant TUI to expand operations in Sri Lanka
TUI, one of the world’s leading tour operators, has expressed willingness to expand operations in Sri Lanka. The TUI group while expanding tour operations will also assist Sri Lanka to develop its hospitality training facilities, the Tourism Ministry said in a media release. TUI is one of the largest outbound tour operators in Europe. TUI [...]
CID to probe irregularities in 4 road development units
Several irregularities have emerged in the establishment of four new state-owned companies, about four years ago, for road development projects to improve the existing road networks based on cabinet approval. Maganeguma Emulsion Production Company (Pvt) Ltd, Maganeguma Consultancy and Project Management Services Company (Pvt) Ltd, Maganeguma Road Construction Equipment Company (Pvt) Ltd and Expressway Transport [...]
New South Asian Economic Union mooted
In order to move towards regional financial integration, what’s most important is the agreement amongst all countries to agree to the establishment of the South Asian Economic Union, a capital market expert says. “Then the relevant policy experts from all the governments and private sector stakeholders can work on how to achieve the purposes of [...]
Cheap, illegal footwear imports strangle local leather product sector
Illegal footwear imports are hurtin g Sri Lanka footwear and leather products manufactures,, the association of the sector has said, urging the government to protect local industrialists. The Sri Lanka Footwear & Leather Products Manufacturers Association has urged the Customs authorities to crack down on illegal imports of footwear and unassembled parts of shoes for [...]