Search Results for: Sri Lankan

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA, in Columbo
A CHILLED goods retailer has predicted the opening of markets in the north of Sri Lanka following the peace agreement between the Columbo government and the Tamil Tigers should boost its soft drinks sales by six per cent this year.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE SRI Lankan government should work with the country’s leather industry to improve the quality of raw hides, a national industry workshop has concluded. It heard that the trade in finished or semi-finished Sri Lankan leather was suffering because of poor hide standards.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA, in Columbo
CONSTRUCTION of an airport at Matugama, western Sri Lanka, was to start this month (April), to boost transport links to tourist developments. The island’s travel industry has been boosted by the peace deal with the Tamil Tigers.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
INDIA has been cementing its good relations with an increasingly peaceful Sri Lanka by holding extra oil stocks for its island neighbour in case of shortages caused by the Iraq war. Meanwhile, Shell Gas Lanka Ltd has laid contingency plans to ensure an uninterrupted supply of LPGas to Sri Lanka.…

Keith Nuthall
SRI Lanka was to increase its international airport departure tax from July 1 from SLRupees 1,000 (US$10.29) to 1,500 (US$15.44), outstripping rival destinations in the region. Although Sri Lanka Civil Aviation Authority officials stressed the extra money would be spent on Columbo’s Bandaranaike airport, the island’s press has noted Indian airports charge INDRupees 150 (US$3.22) departure tax on south Asian nationals and INDRupees 500 (US$10.73) on other travellers and Nepal’s Tribhuvan International Airport charges between NEPRupee 900 (US$11.89) and 1,100 (US$14.54).…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
INDIA’S Venkatesh Coke and Power Ltd. has announced that it has secured a sales contract for selling coke to Germany’s RAG from its planned 110MW power station in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka, which will import 1.2 million tonnes of coking coal per year, mostly low ash coal from Australia.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA, in Columbo
ANGER has been sparked amongst Sri Lanka’s footwear importers by the imposition of a SLRupees 100 (US$1.03) tax on imported pairs of footwear, causing traders to claim they are suffering heavy losses. The secretary of the island’s Footwear Importers’ Association, Sarath Pathirana, has claimed that when combined with other sales taxes, shoe importers now pay almost SLRupees 200 (US$2.03) in tax per pair.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA, in Columbo
THE SRI Lanka government wants to set up a SLRupees 1.5 billion (US$15.48 million) footwear manufacturing centre at Homagama, near the capital Columbo, bringing 150 shoe factories and workshops together, with the aim of boosting cooperation and developing products for the export market.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
ASIAN Paints (Lanka) Ltd., the Sri Lanka operation of the India-based multinational coating giant, is offering free insurance to professional painters who choose to use its products. They will be offered a comprehensive accident insurance scheme that could pay up to SL Rupees 250,000 (US$2,580) in compensation per painter.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA, in Columbo
SRI Lankan soft drinks companies have attacked their national government’s decision to continue imposing excise tax on their industry while planning to extend VAT to both the wholesale and retail distributors of the sector. Himal Fonseka, country-marketing manager for Pure Beverages Ltd.,…