SriLankaFirst welcomes signing of Memorandum of Understanding

"This historic moment is what we, and all those working towards a lasting peace in Sri Lanka have hoped for. Let this be a new beginning. Let us come together as a nation, overcoming the barriers of race and religion. Let us work towards a lasting solution, living in peace, harmony and prosperity throughout our island nation," said Jagath Fernando, President of SriLankaFirst.

The peace group thanked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his cabinet and President Chandrika Kumaratunga for the peace initiatives.

A statement said Sri-LankaFirst will continue to support political leaders in their efforts to bring about a negotiated peace, and usher in economic prosperity to the country.

Biz briefs

SLT embarks on Project Hope for Jaffna

"Being the premier telecommunication service provider, we are committed to build telecom infrastructure in this country," said SLT CEO, Shuhei Anan.

He said SLT not only provided telecom services but also has been doing its duty in a much broader context. "We bring people together; cultures together, by fulfilling the communications requirements of all sectors of the society, which justifies our existence. I am hopeful that Project Hope will help connect Jaffna peninsula to the rest of the world, " he added. Project Hope is planned to be carried out in phases. Initially, it will provide 4,000 new telephone lines in the Jaffna peninsula, enhancing the quality of service in all facets. SLT has appointed a special task team to handle Project Hope.

This team is responsible for carrying out trenching, cable laying and installation of equipment, transportation, etc, an SLT statement said.

Ambuja Cement holds dealer awards ceremony

Company CEO, M.C. Ramakrishna said they had selected ten dealers for these awards from their total network of 150 dealers islandwide for their outstanding performance and contribution to the company.

Strategic Partnership for eBXL and Golden Key

E-Business is the information technology and communications solutions arm of KPMG Ford, Rhodes, Thornton and Co, involved in providing world class IT solutions in e-outsourcing, e-integration and e-business services.

According to Mukhlis Ismail, Manager, Information Systems of eBXL, IMAS Corporate Software was selected as the application software for the ASP assistance, due to its cost-effective reliability, backed by a skilled technical division to run it.

CCC's power appeal to members

"In this period of crisis, it is essential that all commercial and industrial establishments adopt every possible strategy to conserve the draw-down of power from the national grid," the CCC said in a letter to its members. It said the government had responded positively to the suggestion that the private sector firms with the capacity to generate their own power be provided incentives to do so beyond the power cuts and thereby reduce the demand for CEB power.

Leo Burnett's India chief visits here

"Sri Lankan advertising standards have grown at an extremely fast pace during the past few years," said Sharma adding that "advertising messages are more focused and to the point."

He said Sri Lanka had a good collection of strong advertising players in the market which was one of the reasons why the industry was performing and developing exceedingly well.

IDL's new IT centre

''We will be concentrating on a combination of IT services coupled with training in the English language so that these youngsters would be able to use a computer,'' said Jayantha Kulasingham, chairman of IDL Spectrum which is a Board of Investment (BOI) approved firm.

The IT centre will come under an IDL subsidiary, Spectrum Training Centre (Pvt) Ltd, and plans to become the largest human resource development base in Sri Lanka with the opening of training centres in locations around the country including Jaffna.

IDL India chairman V. Kupparaj said that their company had several credits which included being the first to provide training in WAP technology in South India and the first to offer training in a multi-dimensional database.

With the government's emphasis on developing and promoting Sri Lanka as an IT resource centre and an IT hub in the region, IDL Spectrum will be able to fill a long felt need in this area, Kupparaj added.

Trade chamber urges budget deficit cuts

In a statement, it said some of the areas the government should also look into is pruning all expenditure in the state sector, reducing wastage, rationalising government departments and corporations and closing them down if necessary.

It called for a review of the need, size and scope of government departments and corporations. The earlier system of Treasury control on expansion and creation of new positions, etc. should be brought in, it said.

Other proposals include:

n Appoint chamber representatives to government boards.

n Policy directives for all state activities must be given to last for the next 4/5 years. Frequent changes in policy frustrate investment. 

n Curtail holidays. Wages should be based on performance.

n Streamline the port and customs department so that goods can be cleared within 24 hours. (In Dubai clearing is done in four hours.) The Customs and Port must work together to achieve this. We feel that the Colombo Port is losing opportunities to other ports in the region because of these delays.

n Infrastructure is in a dilapidated state. Priority must be given to the improvement of roads, major highways and the railways. These must be developed to ease congestion. Target dates should be fixed for building and completing new highways. This can be done even with limited resources.

n Purely trading activities must be handled by local companies. Foreign firms must be restricted to the manufacturing sector. This is the practice in many neighbouring countries.

n On policies of the WTO, all SAARC countries should get together to ensure that our concerns are met.

n The 40% surcharge on duties levied at present must continue in order to safeguard local industries.

n Industries must be encouraged to relocate to industrial zones by the granting of tax incentives such as 100% capital allowance of relocation expenses. Industries based in rural and less developed areas be given tax and other incentives or special infrastructure subsidies to offset their additional operational cost.

n The present mechanism for the operation of parate execution is not satisfactory as it is weighted heavily in favour of one party. Restructuring of enterprises must be examined by banks, etc similar to countries such as India and the USA. 

Provision for an appeal to an independent body is a necessity.

n The local textile industry is in a state of collapse due to imported textiles being duty free. Duty should be reintroduced to help revive the textile industry.

n The concessions granted to BOI and non-BOI companies must be merged and the same concessions should apply for both sectors.

n A small core cabinet must function to direct and monitor exports.

n The Investment Tax Allowance (commonly referred to as the ITA) which was introduced by the government in the budget proposals of 1997, should be reintroduced.