Category:
Better Deal
Dec 05 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s small hydro developers are in talks with the government for a new electricity tariff, to be finalised in about a month, as mini-hydro electricity becomes more expensive to develop. There are currently about 100 megawatts of small hydro plants generating 300 million units of electricity a year, connected to […]
Sri Lanka fiddles with imported food prices as inflation rages
November, 05 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s finance ministry said Tuesday it was cutting duty on imported potatoes and onions in a bid to control rising food prices in December, as inflation in November rose to 19.8 percent. A kilogram of potatoes and onions were charged a cess of 20 rupees per kilo in a bid […]
Sri Lanka ask Norway to suspend contacts with Tamil Tigers
COLOMBO, Dec 3, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s government asked peace broker Norway to suspend contacts with the Tamil Tiger rebels as it came under intense pressure Sunday to ban the guerrillas and end an Oslo-backed peace initiative. Norwegian peace envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer was told that his planned visit to the rebel-held town of Kilinochchi […]
Choices: “Rusiyavata vadiya lokuyi irisiyava”
December 3, 2006 (LBO) – Recently, the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission issued an order setting the maximum price that could be charged for an SMS at LKR 5 per message. Given that SMS messages have never cost that much and their prices have dropped down to as low as LKR 0.50 depending on the package, one […]
Sri Lanka to use embarkation fee revenue to develop Kalpitiya Dutch Bay Island
December 2, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka plans to part of its embarkation fee revenue to develop the Kalpitiya Dutch Bay Island into a tourist attraction, the government said Saturday. Cabinet of ministers had agreed to initiate the project across 5,000 acres of land at a cost of 350 million rupees. Tourism Minister Anura Bandaranaike […]
Plugged In
December 2, 2006 (LBO) – Dialog Telekom said Saturday that it has taken full control of cable television operator CBN SAT, that was previously shut down by the government for not having necessary paperwork. Sri Lanka, which became the first South Asian nation to start mobile services, when Celltel Lanka began operations in 1989, now […]
Sri Lanka police detain two suspect over assassination as fighting flares up
Dec 2, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lankan police detained two people over an attempt to assassinate the president’s brother, officials said, as 11 people were killed in fresh fighting.The Police Criminal Investigations Department took into custody two men who owned the auto-rickshaw used in Friday’s suicide bombing targeting Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse’s heavily armed convoy […]
Light Load
December 2, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka plans to build a 300 megawatte liquefied natural gas plant with Iranian assistance, the government said Saturday. “Iran is highly developed in power plant manufacturing industry and is able to meet the domestic requirement of power plant construction. Sri Lanka power industry can benefit through mutual cooperation between […]
Costly Business
Dec 01 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s export and import trade are to be slapped with higher terminal handling charges from January, shipping lines calling on the Colombo port said in a public notice on Friday. The India Pakistan Bangladesh Ceylon Conference (IPBCC) a grouping of about 19 shipping lines, said that they were revising rates […]
Aid for AIDS
Dec 1, 2006 (LBO) – The United States said Friday that it would give Sri Lanka 650,000 dollars to help curb the AIDS virus in high risk areas of the island, officials from the US Agency for International Development, said. Department of Health Services, 2006 report says the number of reported cumulative AIDS deaths in […]
Trade Battle
WASHINGTON, Nov 30, 2006 (AFP) – The United States and Asian economies are divided over how to implement a plan to set up an Asia-Pacific free trade area, two weeks after agreeing to study the ambitious proposal. The Asian economies want to first establish a free trade area among themselves before considering the implementation of […]
Next Show
November 30, 2006 (LBO) – Tough regulations are stifling growth of Sri Lanka’s cable and satellite television industry, a local research firm says, but is poised to take off as new and larger players’ lower costs and improve choice. Sri Lanka’s current penetration of satellite and cable channels is less than one percent of the […]