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MTN Network has expanded one of its charity initiatives, Dialog @ hospitals programme, initially lau-nched at the Sri Lanka Army Hospital for the benefit of disabled soldiers, to the children's ward at the Cancer Hospital, Maharagama.
The objective is to enrich the lives of children and also fully utilise the advantage of mobile telecommunication by facilitating them with mobile phones to contact their loved ones, the company said.
MTN plans to relieve these children of depression and pain by bringing some excitement and brightness to their lives by linking up with Sirasa TV and hosting a special programme for them. The patients will utilise the mobile phones provided to call the TV station and make requests, dedications and also sing on air. The programme will also include fun games via SMS and birthday celebrations. The viewer of the programme will also be given the opportunity to enlighten the patients by sending in special messages via SMS and mail for festivals, New Year, Christmas and other special occasions.
MTN Network (Pvt) Ltd has organised many charitable ventures like the Change Trust Fund, the Jaipur Foot Donation Programme in addition to helping the Ceylon Deaf and Blind School and the National Child Protection Authority.
Regional plantation companies (RPCs) have expressed concern over the take-over of estate hospitals by the government, saying many of them were not functioning properly and that workers were not getting adequate health care.
"The take-over of estate hospitals is a matter of concern to plantation companies," S.K. Senevi-ratne, secretary general of the Planters' Association, which represents plantation companies, said last week.
Workers are not concerned about who runs the hospitals and expect the same service they were getting, or a better service, he told a meeting between Minister of Estate Infrastructure, P. Cha-ndrasekeran and the chief executive officers of RPCs.
"We're dealing with people whom we consider less fortunate," he said. "The take-over of hospitals seems easy but, in the end, the benefit must go to the workers.
Sadly, I don't think the service has become better in some of the hospitals taken over by the government."
Seneviratne suggested that the government improve the services at hospitals already taken over before taking over more hospitals.
A steering committee overseeing the take-over had decided to stop the take-over of more estate hospitals until the ones already taken over were functioning smoothly, since many were short-staffed and lack facilities such as ambulances, he said.
Ministry officials said the government had already taken over 21 estate hospitals and planned to take over 15 more this year. The CEOs said they support the initiative of improving the health service for workers but complained that the government was trying to take over cultivated, productive land to expand hospitals while unproductive land was lying idle.
"We certainly support the initiative but we need compensation for land already taken over," a chief executive officer said. "The companies are paying rental on these lands. We have an obligation to our shareholders."
He said the objective of the government taking over estate hospitals would be nullified if those taken over were not functioning satisfactorily. Minister of Estate Infrastructure, P. Chandrasekeran said the ministry aims to co-ordinate the use of funds given by non-governmental organisations and other institutions in the plantations sector to ensure the money was used effectively, especially in improving health services.
"There is no collaboration between these organisations to ensure we're getting the best benefits of these funds," he told the meeting.
Some 147,000 people over 16 years of age living on plantations in the hill country do not have national identity cards.
Ministry of Estate Infrastructure officials said 80 percent of them are in the districts of Nuwara Eliya, Badulla and Ratnapura. "These people face many difficulties in not having identity cards, especially at checkpoints," a ministry official said.
A programme launched last July to speed up the issue of identity cards had not worked. It was revealed that residents of plantations were unable to obtain identity cards because they did not have birth certificates. Ministry officials said they plan to launch a mobile service to provide birth certificates to residents of estates.
Resident workers on plantations still do not have letters delivered to their homes, a service other Sri Lankans take for granted. Not having their own postal addresses, mail is addressed to the estates on which they live. Workers have to collect their letters from estate divisional offices.
Ministry of Estate Infrastructure officials told a meeting with chief executive officers of plantation companies last week that there was growing agitation among workers for mail to be delivered to their homes.
The ministry wants to revive a network of 125 agency sub-post offices set up on estates in the past three years most of which are not functioning. Estate residents who were recruited and trained to run the agency sub-post offices, operating on commissions, had abandoned them because their remuneration was not enough, officials said.
"We have now decided to pay officers in charge a monthly allowance of Rs, 2,000 and Rs. 1,500 to peons for three years until they are able to stand on their own feet," a ministry official said.
"We want to ensure that estate workers get their letters delivered to their own addresses," he said. "Workers have complained. We want to give workers their own addresses." More than half the homes of estate workers have no electricity, it was revealed at the same meeting. Many live in far-off places not covered by the national grid of the Ceylon Electricity Board.
The Ministry of Estate Infrastructure has acquired 600 solar power home systems, each unit costing Rs. 58,000, to be installed in the homes of estate residents this year.
Sri Lanka's poultry industry is pleading for a change in policies in this sector, saying the current crisis is certain to further ruin the industry and threaten jobs.
"We need some kind of encouragement, some positive thinking to revive an industry which provides a lot of jobs and is a key sphere of economic activity," said Dr. D.D. Wanasinghe, chairman of the All Island Poultry Association (AIPA).
The AIPA is seeking a meeting with Agriculture and Livestock Minister, S. B. Dissanayake to apprise him of the problems faced by chicken and egg farmers.
Some of the current problems are oversupply with 3.5 million kg of chicken meat lying in cold storage, high feed costs and cheaper imports. The industry is urgently seeking an export rebate to enable producers to export surplus chicken and save the farms, and also a reduction of taxes on imported maize.
"Proposals that were submitted by our association to the former government were not taken seriously," Wanasinghe said, adding that farmgate prices of eggs were much below the cost of production due to high taxes on imported feed material.
Close to 75,000 farmer families and 200,000 input suppliers are dependent on an industry that is worth Rs. 12 billion per annum. The industry has also been affected by power cuts and the crisis affecting tourist hotels, which consume some 20 percent of the country's total output of chickens and eggs.
State banks have responded positively to a government call to suspend parate executions for six months on firms who have failed to pay their loans.
Rural Economy Minister, Bandula Gunawardene told reporters last week that the government had also requested banks to give a 100-day marginal interest for those who repay on time.
He said the Bank of Ceylon had agreed to both suggestions while other state banks had agreed to suspend parate executions.
The government had asked state banks to suspend auctioning properties mortgaged for loans in arrears of up to Rs. 1 million for small and medium industries or individual loans of up to Rs. 500,000. The minister said private banks have agreed to consider the government's appeal.
Emirates SkyCargo has removed the fuel surcharge with worldwide effect from January 1, the company said.
"In line with the promise we have made to our customers, we have withdrawn the fuel surcharge completely," said Pradeep Kumar, General Manager, Cargo Revenue Opti-misation.
Following the sharp increase in fuel prices, Emirates SkyCargo imp-lemented a surcharge of US$10 cents per kilo in November 2000.
By Hiran Senewiratne
Mlesna (Ceylon) Ltd (MCL), one of the leading exporters of Ceylon tea in value-added form, is investing Rs. 100 million to double the capacity of its packing plant in Pepiliyana.
It is also planning to launch a range of flavoured ice teas.
MCL Managing Director, Anselm Perera, said he was able to fetch high prices for his tea by concentrating on value-added products.
"As there are many players in the tea export business, we need to be more competitive in all aspects such as quality, packaging and innovation," he said.
The company, set up in 1983, employs more than 300 people, including 20 differently-abled persons. It has won 56 export awards.
Iced flavoured tea is a novel concept, Perera said. It will be launched shortly in many flavours such as peach, apricot, lemon and soursap.
Mlesna exports about five million dollars worth of tea in gift packs annually through the company's agent network in more than 53 countries, Perera said.
The firm produces more than 60 flavours and different packs for the European market.
Mlesna accounts for about 2.5 million kg of Sri Lanka's annual exports of 300 million kg of tea.
Economic cooperation in South Asia is "doomed" to achieve little in the absence of political goodwill amongst member states, says Colombo-based think-tank, the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS).
"The experience of SAPTA negotiations indicate not only the lack of commitment by SAARC countries to open their markets to each other but also that economic cooperation is doomed to achieve little in the absence of political goodwill amongst member countries," IPS said in a report.
It said the introduction of bilateral free trade agreements among SAARC countries was also likely to lead to further fragmentation of a common South Asian goal towards regional integration.
India's willingness to sign the Indo-Lanka FTA and pursue its economic linkages with East Asia through membership of BIMST-EC - of which Sri Lanka is also a member - clearly indicates that it would prefer to forge closer ties between the two regions.
For Sri Lanka too, having gained access to the Indian market through the FTA, its technology, investment and trade needs are more closely aligned to those of its East Asian neighbours than to Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal or the Maldives, the report noted.
The report poses the question as to whether a regional arrangement in South Asia has any future, while adding that if SAARC countries are to go forward without loss of credibility, mere rhetoric on commitment to freer regional trade will not be sufficient. Commitments by countries, it said, should be adhered to irrespective of whether SAARC summits are rescheduled to accommodate political developments.
"Only by insulating the economic agenda as far as possible from regional politics will it stand any chance of delivering the promised results," the report said.
The IPS study was prepared ahead of last week's Katmandu SAARC summit where an effort was made to revive economic cooperation among members.
The Wrap Factory won the gold award for the best TV commercial of the year for its Nestle Polo creation at the recent Sumathi Tele awards presentation.
This commercial was directed and produced by Wrap Factory's chief creative director Steve de la Zilva. The two merit awards presented to Leo Burnett's "SriLankaFirst" campaign and Grant McCann's Castrol commercial were also produced by the Wrap Factory.
A Wrap Factory statement said the company in a short period of four years has bagged 12 gold medals at the SLIM annual awards, three golds at the Sumathi Tele awards and three international awards.
Sri Lankan tea exports are expected to show record earnings and volumes in 2001, broker Forbes and Walker Ltd said.
It said exports in January to November 2001 totalled 271 million kg against 262.5 million kg in the same period in 2000.
"In 2000 exports reached 287.9 million kg - it would be an all time record.
If exports during December 2001 equal the December 2000 figure, we would better the 2000 record," Forbes said in a report.
Forbes said last year's earnings is expected to exceed record revenues in 2000 of Rs. 53 billion.
By Akhry Ameer
Oil multinationals are positive on entering the import and distribution market in Sri Lanka but are awaiting a clear signal from the government over proposals to open out the sector to the private sector.
Two weeks ago, The Sunday Times reported that the government wanted to open out the fuel sector to the private sector, ending the monopoly status enjoyed by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC).
Shell and Caltex are already eyeing some kind of local production via an arrangement with the CPC. Gerald Koch, Finance Director of Shell Gas Lanka Ltd, said these proposals were also announced by the Public Reforms and Enterprise Commission (PERC), a few months ago. "We asked for more guidelines then. We want to know the kind of support from the CPC, whether we need our own storage facilities and details on the competitive rates. We need this background to assess the feasibility," he said. Shell Gas has not received these details as yet.
Caltex, the lubricant giant who entered the market first as part of the privatisation initiatives in this sector and enjoying certain exclusivity rights up to 2004, expressed similar views.
Caltex Lubricants Lanka Ltd's Kishu Gomes said, "With the merger of Chevron and Texaco, we are the biggest in the world. We have the finances internationally and locally to market retail fuel. It is a good opportunity and we have to look at resources locally. The government should look at a plan to share the resources. Currently there are 1,100 outlets of which 750 are retail and located at strategic points."
"We would like to know the policy in terms of the refinery, imports, the payback period, the right return, etc. Otherwise the consumer is not going to derive the benefit. Everybody knows the CPC is not being run efficiently, the quality of the fuel is not right and as a multinational if we are to purchase from CPC, we will place a definite emphasis on quality and will be committed to providing a better service. It's too early to say. The government should discuss its plans or invite all (Mobil, Shell, etc.) during the initial stages of formulating plans. If they need some sort of assistance in formulating their plans, we are able to draw from our global strength and bring down experts free of charge."
Asked whether they would use Sri Lanka as a base for the region, Gomes said retail fuel would be confined to the local market. However, in terms of bunkering they would assess the potential within the region.
Trevor Reckerman, Joint Managing Director of McLarens Lubricants (Pvt) Ltd representing Mobil in Sri Lanka, was of the view that there is still no clear understanding about government plans.
"We welcome pri-vatisation plans. But we need more details as to how to go about it. Running a petrol station is not attractive, not for oil majors. We want to share the forum. Currently we don't know whom to work with, whether to wait for the government to reveal plans or if they want us to come out with proposals," he said.
Ifham M. Azwer, Business Development Manager for Lubricants at Associated Motorways Ltd, local representatives for BP and Castrol, expressed reservations about the policy. "Under the prevalent environment we are not interested. It shouldn't be the way things are being done like Emirates and Shell being bullied for instance. The policies are still cloudy. If it is constructive and concrete we can look at it," he said.
The first anniversary celebrations of the RCU Visa International Affinity Credit Card were marked with a simple ceremony held at the Royal College Principal's office on January 3, 2002.
The RCU Affinity Card (RCU AC) has the distinction of being the first ever Affinity Card issued in this country in collaboration with past pupil's organization.
This unique concept of rallying round your Alma Mater by simply using a Credit Card for your day-to-day purchases has proven an immense success with the RCU membership.
Mr. P. Sridharan, head of HNB Card Centre, stated that unlike other Credit Cards, there is no joining fee on the RCU AC, only annual memberships fee. Of this, a sum of Rs. 350/- is credited to the RCU. In addition, 0.1% of every transaction is also credited to the RCU A/c. To date, he revealed that a sum exceeding Rs. 1/2 Mn had been contributed to the RCU.
In view of the initial success of the project and as a further incentive, HNB has voluntarily increased the annual contribution per card from Rs. 350/- to Rs. 550/-. The increase in contribution and extensive awa-reness campaign has resulted in a continuous inflow of fresh applications and high usage of the RCU Credit Card by existing cardholders.
Capt. Ajith Peiris, the Secretary of the RCU, stated that the funds received through this novel product had immensely assisted the Union's various deve-lopment projects to improve the facilities at Royal College. He also stated that it was encouraging to note that many old Royalists had rallied round this 'Royal Cause' and were contributing postively towards the development of their Alma Mater.
The Principal, Mr. Gomes, stated that the success of the scheme was solely attributed to the commitment of the old boys, the Union Officers and the dedication shown by the HNB Card Centre. He also acknowledged the enormous assis-tance rendered by HNB not only towards the development of Royal College, but to all educational instit-utions in this country.
Mr. Jeyaraj Chan-drasekera, Senior Manager, HNB, stated that in addition to the convenience and comforts associated with having a Visa International Credit Card, the RCU Credit Card issued by HNB also entitles the cardholders to special discounts at many leading merchant outlets.
He also stated that continuous improvement will be done on this Affinity Project which was the forerunner to many such projects in the Card Industry of Sri Lanka.
Grey Worldwide in a groundbreaking move, acquired total marketing and promotion rights from Majestic City - the permier Shopping Mall, for the Christmas season a press release said.
The first agency to do so, it amplifies Grey's strategy to beat disruptive economic factors like elections and power cuts, and reticent customer spending that have been the bane of using regular advertising avenues the press release further said.
The 25 day Below The Line-led event has Above The Line (ATL) support. And on the ground it is being managed and monitored on a day-to-day basis by the Agency's BTL team. So far the Majestic City event has been outstandingly successful in developing close customer contact, brand building and generating sales for its clients which includes Celltel and Pringles from its portfolio as well outside clients like Sampath Bank.
The success of the venture can be gauged from the fact that many clients who wished to participate had to be turned away. As for customer response, never before has such overwhelming customer participation been sustained consistently over such a long period of time. The Agency's BTL division immaculately planned and executed the event, keeping interest at peak levels with a daily series of fun games, fashion shows, DJ music (courtesy tie up with SUN FM) and plenty of prizes, among them air tickets, phones, T-shirts, caps, bandanas and lots more. Majestic City has reported a 25% increase in traffic so far, over the same period last year.
Grey innovative BTL strategy has set a new precedent in an unpredictable market, and for clients who are demanding measurable results from their agencies. Turning a grey (no pun intended) Christmas season into a marketer Christmas dream.
Consumers can now look forward to better pictures as well as more ways to enjoy them with Kodak's new Digital Services.
With the introduction of the System 88, a completely digital photo development mini-lab, Kodak photo retailers can not only offer consumers prints from traditional 35mm and APS (Advanced Photo System) films, but also automatically improve their pictures and create a new world of choices for themselves.
"The photographic industry is facing an exciting evolution led by advances and consumer adoption of digital technology" said Graham Marshall, Country Business Manager, who went on to say that "new digital technology is changing the way consumers can take, make, and share photographs. It offers a whole new exciting photo taking experience, giving consumers many more fun and creative options with their photographs''.
Powered by Kodak technology, System 88 enables photo consumers to get better pictures, correcting over and under exposures, and eliminating "red eye" instantly, as well as fixing pictures with shadow and backlight problems. You could print pictures from a variety of traditional as well as digital sources such as slides, diskettes, CD'S, digital camera and traditionally, your existing photographs.
System 88 allows consumers to get creative and have fun with pictures. Consumers can print out black and white pictures from a coloured negative, add captions to pictures, create visiting cards, and design photo calendars, in addition to zooming and enlarging pictures for great looking close-ups and cropping pictures for the perfect image.
The Kodak Index Prints, which are in fact miniature prints, enables consumers to choose conveniently a shot for reprinting or enlargement.
Storing and sharing pictures with Kodak Picture CD to send pictures via e-mail, print pictures at home or simply store pictures on a CD is yet another feature of the System 88.
System 88 will make its debut in seven Kodak Express stores by the end of January 2002. At present, most photo retailers in Asia use the traditional optical mini lab system.
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