PERC  Act to be repealed

The Cabinet has granted its approval to a Memorandum submitted by His Excellency the President Mahinda Rajapaksa to wind up the PERC, and as a preliminary step in this direction to repeal the Public Enterprise Reforms Commission Act No.01 of 1996.  The Public Enterprise Reforms Commission (PERC) was established under the above Act to advise and assist the government in public enterprise reforms with objectives of fostering and accelerating the economic development of the country, and improving the efficiency and competitiveness of the economy.

Under the Mahinda Chintana Policy, the government ownership in the strategically important Enterprises of Finance, Transport, Power, Energy and national assets are to be continued intact and no such assets or public institutions are to be privatized.  In this context, the current operations of the PERC do not fall in line with the government policy. The Strategic Enterprise Management Agency (SEMA) has been initiating necessary action to ensure the maintenance of public ownership of identical strategic public institutions and to run them as commercially viable entities by improving their operational efficiency.  The basic functions of the PERC are also being discharged by the Ministry of Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion. Therefore, the Cabinet has granted its approval to wind up the PERC and a s a preliminary step to repeal the PERC Act.

Improvement of Service Delivery System of GVOs

The Cabinet has granted its approval to a Memorandum submitted by Livestock Development Minister Hon. R.M.C.B. Ratnayake on the improvement of  service delivery systems of Government Veterinary Offices (GVOs). Mahinda Chinthana  categorically identified the absolute necessity of strengthening the domestic livestock industry with special emphasis to dairy industry through Kiri Ithuruma programme. According to the National Livestock Development Policy and Strategies  declared by the government, livestock sector has a challenge to double its local milk, meat and egg production by 2015.  World market prices of milk powder has doubled from 2200 US$ in 2006 to 4000 USS in 2007. This is unbearable to the economy of this country. Hence, there is an urgent need to promote domestic milk production.  A Government Veterinary Office has a capability of saving nine million rupees foreign exchange annually by assisting to increase milk production 500 litres a day.  Therefore, it is possible to recover expenses incurring on each GVO under this program within two years. Hence releasing funds from year 2010 onwards should be based on the performances of  offices assisted under this program two years before the corresponding year.  Therefore, the Cabinet has granted its approval to improve service delivery system of GVOs by obtaining 160 million rupees from Consolidated Fund in 2008 and the balance of 2241 million rupees from the same Fund within 07 years commencing from year 2009.

New Building for Peradeniya University

The Cabinet has granted its approval to a Memorandum submitted by Higher Education Minister Pro. Hon. W.A. Wiswa Warnapala on the proposed new building for the Department of Geology at the Peradeniya University,  The Dept. of Geology has been housed in a building belonging to the Dept. of Geography of the Faculty of Arts.  There is a huge demand for geology graduates in various fields due to the expansion of mineral based industries that had taken place with the rapid growth of population.  The current annual student intake of this Department is limited to 30 due to lack of space.  The University has submitted a proposal to double the annual intake of students.  Therefore, the Cabinet has granted its approval for the construction of a new building for the Department of Geology at a total cost of Rs. 120 million.

Allocation of land blocks to set up industries

The Cabinet has granted its approval to a Memorandum submitted by Industrial Development Minister  Kumar Welgama on the allocation of land blocks to set up industries from regional industrial estates and other state lands.  The industrialization in Sri Lanka has been confined mainly to Colombo and Gampaha districts and not much trickled down to the rural areas as envisaged mainly due to lack of suitable lands to set up industries and poor infrastructure facilities in the regions. As a remedy the Ministry of Industrial Development has initiated a project to set up several regional industrial estates in different parts of the country to facilitate and encourage investors to set up industries in the rural areas.  Several proposals received subsequently and evaluated and found 20 of them are suitable to allocate from 09 Industrial Estates. In five of the nine Industrial Estates 1213 will receive direct employment opportunities.

Jayanthipura -Thirikkondimadu Road to be improved

The Cabinet has granted its approval to a Memorandum submitted by Highways and Road Development Minister Hon. Jeyaraj Fernandopulle on the road sector assistance project funded by the World Bank to rehabilitate and improve Jayanthipura-Thirikkondimadu Road.  Sri Lanka  has obtained a credit of US $ 100 million from the International Develop0ment Association towards the cost of the Road Sector Development and the government intends to apply art of the proceeds of the credit to undertake the improvement and rehabilitation of 68.86-km Jayanthipura-Thirikkondimadu Road which will be completed in 21 months.

Epilepsy hospital with Saudi assistance

The Cabinet has granted its approval to a Memorandum submitted by His Excellency the President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is also the Minister of Finance and Planning on the establishment of Epilepsy Hospital and Health Centres projects with assistance from Saudi Fund for Development. Negotiations have been concluded with the Saudi Fund for Development to obtain a loan of 75 million Saudi Riyal for the implementation of the above projects. The Project is expected to be completed by the year 2009.  The Ministry of Healthcare and Nutrition will be responsible for the implementation of the project.

Municipal Commissioners entitled to the official vehicles at their retirement.

The Cabinet has granted its approval to a Memorandum submitted by Hon. Janaka Bandara Tennakoon, Minister of Local Government and Provincial Councils to grant entitlement to the Municipal Commissioners of Municipal Councils to transfer the official vehicles assigned to them at the time of retirement at depreciated value in terms of the provisions of the Public Administration Circular No 22/99.

The grant is approved with the aim of providing the facilities to the senior officials in the Sri Lanka Administrative Service, Class – 1, which are set out under the Public Administration Circulars No.22/99 and 22/99(i) in order to attract them to the Municipal Commissioners post as Head of Departments in Municipal Councils.

Duty Free vehicle permit for athlete Damayanthi Dharsha.

The Cabinet has granted its approval to a Memorandum submitted by Hon. Gamini Lokuge, Minister of  Sports and Public Recreation, to grant the permit to veteran athlete Damayanthi Dharsha to import a duty free vehicle.

She has earned 17 Gold Medals at International tourements, holds the game records for 33 national and international competitions. She has also had the opportunity of representing Sri Lanka at 03 Olympic Games and 04 World Athletic Championships.

Invalidation of Nominations.

The Cabinet has granted its approval to a Memorandum submitted by Hon. Janaka Bandara Tennakoon, Minister of Local Government and Provincial Councils for the invalidation of the nominations received for one urban council and eight Pradeshiya Sabhas in Eastern province due to postponement of the elections due to emergency and unforeseen circumstances.

The nominations for nine provincial councils have been submitted in the month of February in the year 2006. It has been one and half years since and the elections have not been held yet.

Commissioner of Election has called out for the necessity of invalidating these nominations and calling for new nominations hence during the elapsed period many of the current nomination holders have been displaced.

Accordingly the nominations will be invalidated in the following provincial bodies.

1. Batticoloa Urban Council
2. Eravur Pradeshiya Sabha
3. Korelepaththu Pradeshiya Sabha
4. North Korelepaththu Pradeshiya Sabha
5. Southern Manmunei and Eruvilpaththu Pradeshiya Sabha
6. Manmunei Pradeshiya Sabha
7. Western Manmunei Pradeshiya Sabha
8. South-Western Manmunei Pradeshiya Sabha
9. Porathivupaththu Pradeshiya Sabha

Construction of a Neuro-trauma Centre at the Colombo General Hospital

The Cabinet has granted its approval to a Memorandum submitted by His Excellency President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Minister of Finance and Planning for the construction of a Neuro-Trauma Centre at the Colombo General Hospital with the assistance from the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD).

Cabinet of Ministers have approved to enter in to a loan agreement with the SFD to implement this unit at the National Hospital of Colombo for an amount of 11 million Saudi Riyal with a grace period of five years.

The main objective of this project is to provide medical care services for head and spinal injured patients and blood transfusion by establishing two new units within the Colombo National Hospital.

The construction activities of the project are being implemented now and expected to be completed by 2008. The Ministry of Healthcare and Nutrition will be responsible for the implementation of the project.

Approval for VAT deduction for essential items, price increase for cigarettes

The Cabinet has granted its approval to a Memorandum submitted by His Excellency President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Minister of Finance and Planning to deduct the Value Added Tax rates for canned fish, chickpeas and green gram and to increase the price of cigarettes and new regulations in calculating the payable Economic Service Charge.

Under the Section 3 of the Excise (Special Provisions) Act No. 13 of 1989 (Gazette notification No.1500/21 of 06th June 2007), in accordance with the ‘Mathata Thitha' programme, it was proposed to discourage the usage of cigarettes, prices of certain categories of cigarettes has been increased by fifty cents.

Under the Section 2A of the Value Added Tax Act no. 14 of 2002 as amended by Act. No. 06 of 2005 (Gazette notification No 1500/20 of 06th June 2007), in order to reduce the cost of living VAT rate applicable for canned fish, chickpeas and green gram has been reduced from 15% to 5%.

Under the Section 12 of the Economic Service Charge Act No. 13 of 2006 (Gazette notification No.1502/10 of 20th June 2007), new regulations are introduced to determine the turnover of an entity/individual, in calculating the payable Economic Service Charge.

Anusha Palpita
Director of Government Information