Category: Industry
Potty Business
As a last ditch attempt to preserve dwindling water reserves, the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) rolls out a pilot project on Thu. to fix a meter on each City toilet.A senior CMC official said that: ldblquote Given the huge wastage of treated, drinking quality water in Colombo city being used to flush toilets with, dblquote […]
Undersea Moves
Sri Lanka Telecom said Tuesday that it is joining 16 global telecom carriers to build a new US$ 500 mn submarine cable network.The submarine cable will span 20,000 km (12,400 miles), connecting 14 countries and will boost high-tech communications between South East Asia, the Middle East and Europe.rn rnLabelled SEA-ME-WE 4, the network will carry […]
Full Marks
Fitch Ratings Lanka on Tuesday re-affirmed the SL AAA (Triple A) national rating assigned for National Savings Banks implied long-term unsecured senior debt.rnrn SLrnAAA long-term rating denotes a very low expectation of credit risk. The ratingrnindicates a very strong capacity for timely payment of financial commitments.rnThis capacity is not significantly vulnerable to foreseeable events.rn NSBsrnrating […]
Landing Trap
In a bid to entice private airlines to fly to Sri Lanka, the Civil Aviation Authority plans to cut landing charges during off-peak hours.This will even out operations at the Bandaranaike airport, which is under-utilised at certain times and heavily congested at others.rn rnMost of its business is during the day, with slack hours between […]
Call Transfer
Industry watchers say the move would not shift the local operations strategies as the parent entity- Hutchison Whampoa expects to remain the majority shareholder of the new entity, such that revenue, assets and liabilities will be consolidated into Hutchison Wampoas accounts. rn rnHutchison Telecommunications Int., the new spin-off is valued at over US$ 4 bn […]
City Kit
Dialog GSM is offering immediate connections to its pre-paid customers, who buy their connections from any Cargills Supermarket chain.Sri Lankas largest cellular operator says pre-paid cards endash branded as KIT endash currently accounts for around 650,000 of its 900,000 customer base.rn rnCargills, is presently the largest privately held supermarket chain with 51 stores located in […]
Slow Sailing
The sweep for funding sources to back the proposed South Harbour project will be six months late on account of the ongoing political row. A market survey to identify potential investors to raise an estimated US$ 600 million for the initial work was due to set sail around November 2003.rn rnThe initial funding requirement also […]
Bouncing Banks
Sri Lankas top banks emerged stronger in a year of exceptional performance in 2003.Helped by what the Central Bank calls a lquote heroic attempt at fiscal discipline by the Treasury, SrirnLankas banks have rebounded strongly from the economic crises that hit the country in the laternnineties.rn rnPredictably Commercial Bank led the pack on several key […]
Request to Take Off
Local private airline operators based here say they are getting ready to compete with the national carrierrnnext month when a provision in the MOU betweenrnrnSriLankan and the government expires.rnHowever, the regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority has not completed audits on two of the interestedrncompanies who are keen to fly international routes.rn rnExpo Aviation, Lion Air […]
Crumbling with Age
Old age is catching up with Sri Lanka but taking it slow and easy in comfortable retirement is just not an option available to this islands 19 million people. Sri Lanka needs to post 10 per cent economic growth over the next 15 years to nurse its fast aging population.Sri Lankas lost years of economic […]
Flight Freedom
SriLankan Airlines will use its lquote Fifth Freedom aviation rights to carry passengers from Cochin in India to the Maldives, in July. Fifth Freedom rights allow a registered airline of one state to pick up passengers from another country and put them down in a third state.rn rnIn effect, this means that an airline can […]
Show and Tell
Sri Lanka is drumming up support for an annual regional export sector exhibition, kicking off its campaign with a 4-day local event in November 2004. A regional event is expected to foster greater inter-Asian trade and push down trade barriers, while giving local exporters an opportunity to attract regional investment partners.rn rnThe South Asian Association […]