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Home » ColumnsSingapore company gets huge coal contract
The Government has just approved a US$ 90 million deal to procure 2.5 million metric tonnes of coal for the troubled Chinese-built Lakvijaya power plant in Norochcholai. The decision came after President Maithripala Sirisena had earlier put on hold the matter for further discussion. This quantity is required every year to operate the three 300 [...]
Local council polls also may be put off till March or later
Election Commission chief says he is helpless till Gazette notification is issued Musthapha says Nuwara Eliya district issue could be sorted out soon and Gazette issued in two weeks Rajapaksa says Govt. deliberately delaying elections, predicts pro-Sirisena SLFP will come third or fourth 25 UNP MPs meet President and seek early local polls Sirisena says [...]
Citizenry watch
My dear Citizen Silva, I thought I must write to you when I heard that you are initiating action in the courts of law against the postponement of provincial council elections. Now, anybody going to courts against postponing elections should be applauded, but in your case I am a bit confused which is why I [...]
The pot of gold at the end of Lankan Highways is real
The saying, “The former regime has forgotten why they were chased out and the present can’t remember why they were elected,” rings very true of Sri Lankan politics. This point was amply illustrated on Thursday, when an adjournment debate in Parliament on alleged corruption in awarding of contracts for highway projects, became a finger-pointing exercise, [...]
Budget 2018: Achieving revenue enhanced fiscal deficit target critical
The overriding objective of the 2018 budget should be to achieve a reduced fiscal deficit, while enhancing revenue, increasing expenditure on social and economic infrastructure and reducing wasteful expenditure. The prospect of achieving the fiscal deficit target should not be hijacked by politically motivated increased expenditure in the coming election year. It is vital that [...]
The perils of an ostrich-like approach to polls and governance
The eruption of a fresh controversy this week regarding correction of technical mistakes in the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe Government’s Local Government Elections Bill has again raised the bogey of postponement of the upcoming ‘punchi chande’ polls. The Government has reassured the public that the Bill will be rectified once party leaders meet in the coming days and [...]
Will this palanaya ever thank the lord?
The recent House of Lords debate attracted more than customary media coverage in Sri Lanka. It is quite a long time since that has happened. One reason for this might well be that the Hansard report was made available to the media through external sources. This debate was initiated solely through the efforts of Lord [...]
Bond Commission sends question paper to the PM whilst AG demands oral test
For the last forty years, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has been immersed in the murky waters of Lanka’s politics but each and every time he came up for air, it has been observed by all and sundry that he had surfaced unstained; and not a blob of mud clung to any part of his countenance. [...]