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The National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) has given its approval to use Russia’s 'Sputnik V' vaccine in Sri Lanka, Senior Advisor to the President, Lalith Weeratunga said.

Addressing a special media briefing at the Media Ministry yesterday (10), Weeratunga, who heads the taskforce coordinating the importation of Covid-19 vaccines, said that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa requested Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine from the Russian President and accordingly, Sri Lanka is scheduled to receive the first batch of the said vaccine as a donation.

Weeratunga stressed that the Sputnik vaccine will be procured pending the necessary approvals to vaccinate every Sri Lankan citizen with a special focus on the drivers of the economy in such as the tourism, export and apparel industries.

The alleged sugar scam has resulted in the loss of Rs 15.9 billion in tax revenue, the Finance Ministry revealed.

In a report submitted to the Parliamentary Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) today (09), it was revealed that the Rs. 15.9 billion in its entirety or a portion of it had only benefited a small group of individuals who had imported sugar.

Head of the Parliamentary Committee on Public Finance Dr. Harsha de Silva made the following observations in Parliament today.

The first lot of 10 coaches out of 160 stainless steel passenger coaches supplied by RITES Ltd. to Sri Lanka Railways was delivered in Colombo on Monday (09), the Indian High Commission said.

Batticaloa district MP Shanakiyan Rasamanickam said that the President should go to Montessori on human rights first before talking about a PhD. Speaking in Parliament today (09), he stressed that the President, as the head of state, should be more responsible when issuing statements. He observed that making such statements will be detrimental to the country's image.

"Now they are saying that there are no missing persons in this country. The families of the missing are meeting the President," he said.

Rasamanickam also said that the Human Rights Council in Geneva has been portrayed as anti-Sri Lankan even though that is not the case.

He further said that it was Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa who set a precedent by going to Geneva to address issues of human rights violations.

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In a letter to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, railway trade unions have warned of an attempt by Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage to use political power to acquire 2 acres of land owned by the Department of Railways for the construction of an apartment complex in the Nawalapitiya electorate.

The co-convener of the Railway Trade Union Alliance has urged the President to immediately intervene to stop these illegal land grabbing attempts by Minister Aluthgamage who is trying to seize lands belonging to the Department of Railways with a view to securing votes in the area.

The letter to the President by the railway trade union is found below.

A foreign diplomat in Colombo has asked if he is under surveillance after details of some visitors to his official residence was exposed in the media.

Sri Lanka's construction industry along with the  millions of people who are building or repairing their houses have been pushed into dire straits due to skyrocketing prices of tile and sanitary ware products following the government’s recent decision on tax revision.  

Importers and retail dealers of ceramic ware complained that the government-imposed duty and new CESS on the import of ceramics and tile will cause local prices to rise in unbearable promotions.

Traders said prices have shot up because of the shortage. A 2×2-foot tile that was selling at Rs. 650 now costs Rs. 1,750.

While an imported commode was selling at Rs. 22,000 and with no stocks available in the market currently, a similar commode supposed to be produced locally is now selling at Rs. 43,000, they noted. The prices of tile and ceramic ware sky rocketed by 100 -150 per cent at present from earlier prices and there is a severe shortage of products in the local market.

The country will be losing Rs. 15 billion as taxes per annum, several local importers said, adding that with the present depreciation of the rupee, they are faced with bigger issues as they buy in dollars and sell in Sri Lanka rupees.

At present, this industry provides direct and indirect employment to around 50,000 individuals island-wide with over 2,000 dealers countrywide.

All of them are being severely affected as the import sector has already collapsed inflicting a spillover effect on auxiliary related industries such as warehousing and logistics, clearing and forwarding, banking and finance, construction and commercial real estates.

However, action has now been taken to remove restrictions allowing the importation of these ceramic ware including tiles subject to special CESS with amicable agreement of importers and local manufacturers, finance ministry sources said.

This agreement was reached at a meeting this week chaired by Treasury Secretary S.R. Attygalle with representatives of Tile and Sanitaryware Importers Association along with the local manufactures to discuss a way forward to both facilitate a healthy level of imports while protecting local manufacturers, a senior official of the ministry said.

The meeting was successfully concluded with all parties agreeing to revise import duty and impose a new CESS of Rs. 490 per square meter of tiles instead of the currently applicable CESS based on the value of tiles.

Sanitary ware importers have agreed to revise customs duty to 30 percent from 15 percent at present the CESS to a flat rate of Rs. 125 per kilo.

At present, there was no CESS on certain sanitary ware products and others are charged at 15 percent or Rs. 40 per kilo, a senior official said.

Although there was consensus on these new rates, the government has to take a decision on this matter at the highest level before the approval of the Finance Minister, he added.

The need to protect the local manufacturers has been brought to the attention of high authorities as it has already made very high investment for production expansion.

Three local large-scale tile manufacturers and seven bath ware manufacturers dominate Sri Lanka’s tiles and bath ware manufacturing industry - a vital sector in the construction sector, industry sources said.

These manufacturers possessed a current combined annual production capacity of 17 million square meters of tiles and approximately 700,000 bath ware pieces.

They are planning to increase tile production capacities by another 3.5 million square meters this year and will result in a total local production output to 20.5 million square meters by mid 2021.

These large-scale local manufacturers have invested over Rs.35 billion up to now and thy are paying over Rs.5.5billion in taxes per year providing employment to over 7,500 Sri Lankans these sources revealed.

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The Indian Government has refused to be part of talks between Sri Lanka and a private Indian company to develop the West Container Terminal (WCT) of the Colombo Port.

A proposal submitted by Sri Lanka Tourism to provide Covid vaccinations for industry stakeholders, in a bid to fast-track the revival of the tourism sector post-COVID has been approved by the government. Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga has approved, together with the Health Ministry, a special vinculation programme in the coming weeks.

“The revival of the tourism sector is our primary focus. In doing so, we proposed the special vaccination program and, with the support of the Tourism and Health Ministries, we will implement the project in the immediate future. We aim to safeguard the stakeholders of the industry and work towards a fairly normal setup,” Fernando said.

It was noted that tourism industry stakeholders have begun to send information to get registered for the programme.

Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) data shows that a total of 12,503 employees of ‘Safe and Secure’ certified hotels have registered, along with 2,737 tour guides and 1,816 tourist drivers.

These are all SLTDA registered entities and individuals who play a significant role in the tourism industry despite the pandemic situation.

In addition, a total of 658 employees from the four tourism institutions and Tourism Ministry have been added to the programme.

“Attaining normalcy in operations like pre-pandemic times and uplifting the industry during these periods will have a positive impact on the country’s economy.

Thus far, the safety of our people is a core mandate; hence we look forward to working together with the respective ministries and the stakeholders to successfully conduct this action,” SLTDA Director General Dhammika Wijayasinghe said.

The industry stakeholders have also welcomed the move and have received an overwhelming response within a short span of time.

With a total of 17,714 individuals having expressed interest to register for the Covishield vaccine, the SLTDA believes the revival of tourism in Sri Lanka is not too far.

A total of 5,048 tourist arrivals were recorded this year by February, out of which only nine were confirmed COVID-19 infected.

Community spread was mitigated with the safety protocols put in place. SLTDA believes the vaccination initiative will not only safeguard tourism industry stakeholders, but make Sri Lanka one step closer to being the safest tourist destination in the world.