Category: Industry
Surfs Up
On Friday the shareholders of Associated Hotels Co. Ltd., agreed to sell the beach front property as funds for development was not forthcoming. rn rnCompany Spokesperson Kumar Mallimarachchi told Lanka Business Online that shareholders were unable to pump in additional funds to upgrade the hotel to compete with neighbouring star class hotels. rn rnldblquote Some […]
Golden Abode
The Central Bank has allowed commercial banks to issue dollar denominated housing loans to migrant workers and NRFC holders.rn rnrnOver 180,000 Lankans seek employment overseas annually and remit around US$ 1 bn worth of foreign exchange every year. rnrnldblquote The concession to migrant workers is expected to create a boom in the housing market and […]
Pied Piper
With a definite shift eastward of high spending MICE tourists, aggravated by 9/11, Sri Lanka is redoubling its efforts to offer more than sun, surf and sand.National carrier SriLankan Airlines has joined an industry effort to boost MICE tourist arrivals by 15.00 percent from last years 12.68 percent of arrivals, by the end of this […]
Picking Up
However, the bank quote s net profits picked up 34 percent to Rs. 174.67 mn in 2002, as against Rs. 129.98 mn in the corresponding period, HNB said Wednesday. rnrnSri Lanka quote s largest private bank saw its group revenues fall 7 percent to Rs. 5.66 bn from Rs. 5.94 bn during the period under […]
Can We Do It?
The access road proper will hopefully be completed before the end of the year. rnrnAt the moment it is a stretch of loosely packed mud. rnrnThe previous government reportedly ran out of money to build the access road after initially going along with a proposal of Sri Lanka quote s top software firm, Millennium IT, […]
Rural Shelter
The Ceylinco group plans to channel an Indian line of credit to the rural sector.
Ship Ahoy
The Shippers Council membership has launched a fresh campaign to get vessel operators to include the Terminal Handling Charge in to the freight rate. Shippers say that this will enable them to transfer the over US$ 100 a container handling fee, to the freight payee. rnrnFOB exporters like the garments sector are the worst hit […]
LRT In Colombo
The government is to call for private proposals to develop a light rail transit system for urban travel in the Western Province.The Urban Development Authority will shortly seek cabinet approval to kick off the project. rnrnUDA Director General Lakshman Jayasekera told Lanka Business Report that the LRT system is estimated to cost about US$ 500 […]
Calling Out
Twelve Expressions of Interest have been passed on to the Ministry of Economic Reforms to appoint the consultants within 10 days. rn rnOfficials say that the lower prices, better quality and improved customer responsiveness arising from the liberalisation will energize the Information, Communication and Technology sector. rn rnReforms of the international market will also be […]
Open Skies
Department officials say the near pristine conditions of the airstrips could have the Trincomalee, Anuradhapura, Koggala and Wirawilla airstrips opened up for commercial use as early as end September 2002.rn rnHowever, all remains in the hand of the ministry and the success of the peace process, officials add. rn rnMeanwhile industry analysts say the domestic […]
Helping Hand
A national level disability policy is on the cards, with the Ministry of Social Welfare spearheading a task force that will draw up a framework by December this year.To this end, disability issues in Sri Lanka and ways in which the disabled can be involved in development projects, are being thrashed out at a national […]
Promotional Drive
The beleaguered industry is going through a rough patch with illiquid capital markets and volatile interest rates, leaving it with less room to manoeuvre funds. rnrnldblquote Our marketing campaigns are not strong enough, neither to we have the capacity to deploy qualified personnel outside Colombo. So this may be a route which we should look […]