Category: Industry
Big Bucks
May 13, 2007 (LBO) – State-owned Bank of Ceylon is on a path to increase private sector lending and strengthen its capital to keep pace with a growing loan book, officials said. . The Bank of Ceylon, Sri Lanka’s largest bank has been a principal financier of the government but in the last quarter private […]
Washed Up
May 12 (LBO) – High winds caused a barge anchored off Galle port in southern Sri Lanka to drag anchor and get washed ashore Friday, eyewitnesses and harbour officials said. The unladen barge had been towed by a tug which had come to Galle for repairs after developing engine trouble when sailing past the island. […]
Flight of Fancy
May 11, 2007 (LBO) — Sri Lanka plans to double the price of lottery tickets and use the extra cash to build a second international airport in Weerawila, the National Lotteries Board has said.From Thursday, the Bandaranaike International Airport, which shares a runway with an adjoining military base, will close between 10:30 pm (1700 GMT) […]
Hobbling Dhoni stars as India flattens Bangladesh
DHAKA, May 10, 2007 (AFP) – Mahendra Dhoni battled leg cramps to hit an unbeaten 91 as India defeated their World Cup nemesis Bangladesh by five wickets in the first game of the three-match series here on Thursday.Dhoni and Dinesh Karthick (58 not out) put on a match-winning stand of 107 for the sixth wicket […]
Sri Lanka drop Atapattu
May 10, 2007 (AFP) – Veteran batsman Marvan Atapattu has been omitted from the 15-man Sri Lanka squad for the three-match one day international series against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi, officials said.Only nine of the 15 players who represented the country in the World Cup have been named in the squad for the series starting […]
Sri Lanka wants ruling body elected for cricket
COLOMBO, May 11, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s sports minister said Friday he wants a new committee elected to run the island’s cricket administration, which is currently managed by political appointees. The International Cricket Council in April 2005 recognised the incumbent interim committee headed by businessman Jayantha Dharmadasa as the lawfully appointed body empowered to […]
Big Claims
May 11, 2007 (LBO) – Union Assurance has reported after-tax profit for the quarter ending March 2007 fell to 21 million rupees from 33 million in the same 2006 period. Life insurance premiums increased by 25% to 468 million rupees in March 2007 from 375 million rupees in March 2006. The company, in which the […]
Rolling Stock
May 11, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka plans to buy 60 million dollars worth of locomotives and passenger coaches from China to modernise its Victorian-era network, the state-owned railway announced on Friday.Sri Lanka Railways is purchasing 100 carriages and 15 diesel-powered locomotives, technical manager P.P. Wijesekera told AFP. China’s Exxim Bank will fund the purchases […]
Overnight Vigil
May 10, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s only international airport shut to night flights on Thursday in line with new security measures against raids by rebel Tamil Tiger aircraft, an airport official said.As the last commercial flight for the day left for neighbouring India, the authorities closed the check-in counters and the only runway at […]
Total Failure
May 10, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s national power utility has started to restore power to the capital Colombo following an island-wide power failure, officials said. A failure in the transmission line from the Kelanitissa power generation complex to Biyagama, in the outskirts of Colombo, is believed to have set off a chain reaction, causing […]
ATM Trouble
A part of Sri Lanka’s Hatton National Bank automated teller machine system has encountered a technical problem and is being repaired at the moment, a bank official said.. Our whole network is not down but only 64 machines are down due to a communications problem, he said. The HNB banking network at present has 143 […]
Novel Solution
May 10, 2007 (LBO) – A senior Sri Lankan government official has suggested doubling fuel prices and scrapping free cars and fuel for government servants to solve the island’s transport problem. Road Development Authority (RDA) chairman M.B.S. Fernando also made the startling suggestion that he prefers keeping roads in their present dilapidated state. Slow Roads […]