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Norway
seeks world aid to rebuild Lanka Norway is brokering
the talks, the first round of which will start in Thailand on Sept.
16, in a bid to end a conflictin where around 64,000 people have
died. "We believe
it would underpin and strengthen the peace process if tangible benefits
are brought to people both in the north and the south of Sri Lanka.
This will be
an important part of the first round of talks," Norwegian Deputy
ForeignMinister Vidar Helgesen said during a visit to Ottawa. "The destruction
is enormous, particularly in the north. So our appeal would be to
the international community, including Canada. The donors should
not await a final outcome of the talks before increasing humanitarian
and reconstruction assistance," he told reporters. Sri Lanka says
it needs $500 million over the next five years to rebuild the war-shattered
north. International donors have said they are willing to help rebuild
the war zone but first want to see the peace process firmly entrenched.
Mr. Helgesen said the two sides would take several months to reach any interim deal and said a final peace agreement would take years. "Because it's going to be long and difficult, quick support from the international community is very important," he said. Northern
protest Defence Secretary
Austin Fernando yesterday visited the location close to the Point
Pedro junction where students and civil organizations have been
protesting over the past few days demanding the removal of the barrier
which they say hinders students attending two popular schools. The Defence
Secretary was sent to the site by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe
after ACTC leaders took up the matter with him on Friday. As a compromise
the Defence Secretary agreed that all school children and the teachers
passing the check point would not be subjected to checks, but all
others, including parents would be checked. The removal of the barrier as such was a matter that needed to be taken at the Thailand talks, Mr. Fernando told parents and others at a meeting which was also attended by an official from the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission. French
eye port project entry Port Development
and Shipping Minister Rauff Hakeem confirmed a proposal had been
received and forwarded to the Treasury. "I think
the French company has indicated that EU funding was available for
it to do the feasibility study," he said. The Cabinet
Minute on awarding the right to the Canadian company to carry out
the feasibility study had also left room for any other party interested
in doing such a study provided it can get support from the respective
government or organisation such as the European Union, Mr. Hakeem
said but he stressed, "there must be a definite proposal if
it is to be considered". The feasibility study being conducted by the Canadian company SNS Lavalini will study the international navigational routes and the construction of terminals as well as the commercial restraints that are in the way of the proposed harbour.
SLT is awaiting approval from the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) for a tariff hike of 15% from January 2003 - the final rebalancing in the monopoly signed between the government and Japan's NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone). TRC Director General Themiya Hurulle said the presentation made to the TRC last week was being studied before the green light was given to go ahead with the hike. Tariffs were raised four times since the pact was signed in 1997 with the fourth increase of 15%, which was to come in 2001 put into effect in May this year. The first increase of 25% was made in June 1998, the second increase of 25% in June 1999 and the third in July 2001 which was at 20%. The tariff hike will relieve SLT from its dependence on international calls to subsidise domestic calls. Meanwhile the implementation of a new national numbering plan will see the present telephone numbers changed to a uniform ten digits among all telecommunications service providers. Accordingly all operators have agreed to change the present numbers, which vary from seven digits to nine digits to the proposed ten digits which is said to facilitate the increasing demand for telephone services. Although the
Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) has set the deadline
for May 1, 2003, some operators are already geared to switch to
the new numbering system as early as October. SLT intends
to implement the new numbering system in phases due to its large
customer base and other technical difficulties such as lack of equipment.
SLT will be the first operator to introduce the ten digit numbers in Sri Lanka. SLT will introduce its new national ten digit numbering system in Jaffna and Point Pedro where new telephone exchanges are to be commissioned on Wednesday (11). While the area
code will remain, three new digits will be added to the present
customer number in the two areas. For example, if the present customer
number is 021-3240, with effect from September 11, it would be changed
to 021-2223240. Similarly, 021-63240, a number at Point Pedro, will
be changed to 021-2263240. The new numbering system is the result
of a proposal put forward by the three leading telecommunications
providers - SLT, Lanka Bell and Suntel. SLT has around 700,000 phone
lines, while Lanka Bell and Suntel account for about 150,000 lines
with mobile phones amounting to some 850,000. All phone numbers,
excluding mobile phones will have seven digit numbers to which the
area code would be added. Lanka Bell and Suntel will start with
numbers 5 and 4 respectively. For instance, 075-339944 of Lanka
Bell will be changed to (area code) + 5339944. Mobile phone
service providers who will also switch to the ten digit numbering
system will add a number to their existing code instead of the area
code. Dialog has already announced the change, which will come into
effect from October 6. Accordingly, all Dialog numbers will read
0777 instead of the present 077. A spokesman
for Suntel said that they welcomed the implementation of the new
system, because presently, a call from an SLT line to a Suntel line
was treated as a national call and charged accordingly. |
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