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Sri Lanka’s environmentalists will be launching countrywide protests and awareness campaigns against the environmental destruction being caused by the mega luxury Araliya hotel owned by business tycoon Dudley Sirisena, President Sirisena’s brother, in the Unawatuna area.

In addition to the damage already caused to fauna and exotic flora along with the glamorous corals and marine creatures, a serious impact of pollution on water streams is now evident due to the plan of releasing 60% of waste water after treatment to the sea on completion of the project, they claimed.

The location is also a very rare site that can be used for research work on continental drift. The adverse impact of the hotel project is a threat to this “hot- spot” with biological diversity, ecologists claimed.

The use of heavy machinery at the hotel site has exerted an impact on the deep-rooted soil layer and it will be fast deteriorating resulting sea erosion generating a possibility of future landslide in the entire zone including Unawatuna and globally renowned Rumassala sanctuary.

Ignoring the protests of residents and environmentalists, Dudley Sirisena’s Araliya Group has completed the construction work of the luxury Araliya hotel and it is scheduled to be opened this year.

Araliya Group is set to double its hotel room range to 1,014 rooms with the launching of Araliya Unawatuna and Araliya Red in Nuwara Eliya this year, Dudley Sirisena boasted at a media conference recently.

Araliya Group currently owns and manages 500-600 hotel rooms in Polonaruwa, Nuwara Eliya and Galle districts, he said.

Environmentalists claim that President Maithripala Sirisena, who is also the Minister of Environment at present, has turned a blind eye and allowed his brother to build a massive 16 story edifice for a hotel complex that impacts the natural habitat in the area including the Rumassala Sanctuary.

Sri Lanka's tourism industry is grappling to raise like a phoenix from the ashes after the Easter Sunday terror attacks with financial assistance and moratorium given to the hotels and others in the hospitality industry.

But the Ministry of Tourism Development has failed even to utilize the money allocated for tourism development projects in the last few years, industry stalwarts complained.

They added that no substantial financial assistance or support could be expected from the ministry for tourism development in the coming months as well.

For the purpose of development of tourist attractions, provisions of RLKR 568 million had been made to the Ministry of Tourism Development and Christian Religious Affairs during the year under review, Government audit inspection revealed.

Out of that, a sum of LKR 162.3 million or 28.5 per cent of the total provisions only had been utilized.

Although provisions amounting to LKR 25 million had been made for the development of tourism villages during the year under review, a sum of LKR 556,828 only had been utilized by the end of 2017/2018 period.

Policies or a Guidelines relating to the execution of this project had not been prepared and approved before the commencement of this project.

In terms of Subsection 2(b) of the Finance Act, No.25 of 2003, a levy should be charged for every ticket issued in respect of a passenger embarking a ship leaving Sri Lanka and a part thereof should be remitted to Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority.

Nevertheless, levy had not been so charged from the passengers who had left in the above manner and remitted to the Authority.

Although 27565 passengers had left in the year 2017, action had not been taken to charge the Embankment Levy of LKR 6.41 million recoverable to the Fund at US$.1.66 per passenger.

Deviating from the Government Procurement Guidelines Provisions amounting to Rs.35 million had been made in respect of International French Tourism Trade Fair held in France from 16 to 26 September 2017.

For the construction of trade stalls and obtaining a dancing group, a sum of LKR 8.24 million and LKR 1.03 million had been spent respectively. Action in terms of the provisions in the Government Procurement Guidelines had not been taken in the selection of relevant suppliers, the audit report observed.

Beleaguered construction group, MTD Walkers PLC entangles in legal issues one by one when Bank of Ceylon (BOC) has announced a legal action against the default on debenture obligations by the company.

BOC said it has handed over the documents pertaining to the matter to the Attorney General’s Department on 24 July in order to institute legal action against MTD Walkers for non-payment of interest due from the company to the investors, leading to an event of default.

The largest lenders to the troubled group include Hatton National Bank PLC, People’s Bank and National Development Bank while there are also other small and medium-sized lenders who have had exposures to the company.

According to the latest financial report available up to December 31, 2018, the company had been sitting on a Rs. 26 billion debt pile, of which Rs. 22 billion were short term. The group further had Rs.8.5 billion worth supplier credit.

Last September, the company deferred settlement of Rs. 2 billion debentures, and approximately Rs.1.1 billion was falling due again in September 2019 and the balance a year later.

The MTD Walkers group’s troubles were largely blamed at the delayed payments by the government for the projects which the firm delivered.

The group had Rs.18 billion receivables from projects and another Rs.1 billion each in cash and financial assets which are believed to be converted in to cash relatively easily.

The Malaysian shareholder of MTD Walkers is yet to sell its 90.8 percent controlling stake of troubled construction company to Sri Lanka’s Anunine Holdings.

The Walkers share has been suspended from trading since February 13, 2019. No such controlling stake transaction took place on December 31 last year.

Anunine Holdings announced that it will buy the shares currently held by MTD Capital Bhd, thereby taking over MTD Walkers and its subsidiaries.

The newcomers took the place of two independent directors linked to Supreme Global Holdings–Kumaragewattage Sharm Viraj Fernando and Yogendraprasath Sathiyaseelan who joined the group at the end of December 2018.

Both resigned after the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) rejected a bid by a company allied with Supreme Global to buy the Malaysian stake.

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With nationalist sentiments are rising in the North and South, the government needs to make a major effort to continue economic reforms and rural development in the face of upcoming Presidential elections, civil society activists claimed.

They added that global financial institutions and development agencies could extend support to encourage equitable sharing of costs and benefits of growth from economic reforms and minimise risks of social conflict from abrupt economic liberalisation.

The country is locked in a political battle between President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe hindering the progress of the country, a leading civil society activist said.

SLFP ministers during their time in the unity government had failed to contribute their share and were never enthusiastic about being the junior partner in a unity government with their long-time rival, the United National Party (UNP)

They were unhappy with what many termed as UNP arrogance led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s less-than-consultative style.

Afraid of being outflanked by Rajapaksa’s nationalism, the Sirisena SLFP wing resists key governance and reconciliation promises.

This has weakened the support from constituencies that brought Sirisena to power:

Majority of Sinhalese Tamils and Muslims are dismayed by corruption, abuse of power and high cost of living under Rajapaksa regime.

Civil society activists claimed that the current government has also failed to uplift the living standards of the people due to inaction of ministries headed by ministers of two different political parties and the lethargic attitude of officials with different political affiliations.

Addressing a recent meeting, Wickremesinghe emphasized the need of building an economy with the ability to repay massive foreign debts without resorting to foreign borrowings towards this end.

The government has been able to sustain the impacts of economic setbacks in provincial council elections, floods, drought, 52 day political impasse precipitated due to back stabbing of the President and Easter Sunday terror attacks, he said.

The Governor of Uva Province Marshall Perera has tendered his resignation to President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday (01), sources said.

It was also reported that the resignation was due to personal reasons. Marshall Perera is also the the father of Parliamentarian Dilan Perera.

Colombo Port’s East Container Terminal development finally goes to the management of Japan and India while the overall ownership is vested in Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) sources confirmed.

The signing of the final agreement on the ECT development due in October facilitating the future growth of the Colombo Port, as it has reached its peak capacity, a top official of the SLPA disclosed.

According to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the SLPA retains 100% ownership of the East Container Terminal.

The Terminal Operations Company (TOC), which will be responsible for all operations within the terminal, will be jointly owned by Sri Lanka, Japan, and India.

Sri Lanka will maintain a 51% stake in the company, while Japan and India will hold minority stakes of 34% and 15%, respectively. Development of the ECT will be financed by Japan through a 40-year soft loan of between $ 500-800 million.

The loan will be at a 0.1% interest rate with a grace period of 10 years. The SLPA boasted the terms as one of the best agreements it has ever negotiated.

The move, however, appears to have flustered China which handles the Colombo Port’s Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT) through China Merchant Port Holdings.

The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), popularly known as Pohottuwa (Lotus bud), is getting ready for another illicit and perilous gill mart of collecting biometric (personnel) data commencing from tomorrow.

The SLPP has entrusted this task to groups of youth specially selected for this purpose in all electorates countrywide.

They will visit the door steps of registered voters and collect their highly sensitive and personnel data (smart data) such as national identity card number, date of birth, address, occupation and other relevant information.

This campaign has been planned under the guise of collecting data to improve the living standard of the people ensuring them with jobs and income avenues etc.

A senior official of the Department of Census and Statistics noted that the collection of smart data without the permission of the department was illegal.

The official pointed out that the increased availability and sharing of data could result in sensitive data such a NIC numbers falling into the wrong hands if not properly and fairly processed.

This will lead to the exposing of bank accounts of individuals and other sensitive information including income, their savings and life insurance and even information on whether they own their own homes.

The aim of the SLPP in collecting smart data is to make assumptions or predictions about voters, a senior member of the party said.

It also allows them to send targeted emails or telephone canvass voters as well as decide who to doorstep during the campaign or on the day of voting.

The collecting of personal data by unknown persons will lead to a serious national issue, Census and Statistics Department official warned.

The Ministry of Finance in a statement today said that they have received reports that several organised groups of fraudsters have exploited the letter head of the Ministry to send letters to loan applicants and institutions who have applied for loans under the Government’s Enterprise Sri Lanka credit schemes saying that their loans have been approved.

According to this scam, these organised fraudster groups is said to have informed the unsuspecting loan applicants who are seeking subsidized loans under the Enterprise Sri Lanka programme, that their loans are approved and, have requested them to pay a certain percentage of the expected loan in order to release the loan in full.

This ministry said that they possess evidence to prove that a group including an individual named Jayampathi Karunamuni who is posing as the Director of the Clearance Unit of Loans of the Development Finance Department of the Ministry of Finance and another individual, posing as Chandra Jayasinghe, are said to have sent these fraudulent letters.

Finance Ministry spokesperson said that there is no such a division in the finance ministry.

Under the Enterprise Sri Lanka loan scheme, only loan applications are registered by the Ministry of Finance. Apart from that, the Finance Ministry neither release loans nor make recommendations for any prospective loan applicants.

The Ministry also reiterates that it does not charge any money for its role in this regard. The loans under the Enterprise Sri Lanka programme are granted by State and Private Commercial banks only.

Therefore, the general public are requested to negotiate only with the permanent staffs that are serving in the premises of the respective commercial banks with regard to obtaining loans under Enterprise Sri Lanka. If any group or an individual demands you any money saying that your loan has been approved, you are hereby noticed to inform of such fraudulent groups or individuals to the nearest police station.

The Finance Ministry said that they have given out LKR 88 billion in loans to more than 55,000 entrepreneurs under the programme initiated by Finance Mangala Samaraweera.

National organiser of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), Parliamentarian Duminda Dissanayake challenged the former Secretary to the Ministry of Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa to go public with the official document of renunciation of US citizenship which he claims to have in possession.

Addressing media at SLFP head office, Dissanayake said if Gotabhaya Rajapaksa wants to be more transparent about his citizenship, he should not hide the documents to back his claims that he had renounced his US citizenship.

“If I were him, I would have called a press conference and proved that I have relinquished my US citizenship, and give copies of my documents to journalists to publish that on their respective media platforms,” Dissanayake said.

e added.

Dissanayake asked Rajapaksa to reveal the document he claims to have in possession before the SLPP Convention scheduled on August 11, adding that it would make their decision easy.

“I think the SLPP will not announce their candidate on that day. The event will merely mark oppposition leader Mahinda Rajapaksa assuming the party’s leadership. The people will have to wait longer to know who their candidate is,” he said.

Former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa says he is now in possession only of a Sri Lankan passport, which he had obtained after surrendering the passport for dual citizens adding that he would present the original Certificate of Loss of Nationality of the United States received by him to the Elections Commission as and when required.

Rajapaksa has made this comment in response to the fake document claiming to be his Certificate of Loss of Nationality of the United States that was circulated in social media yesterday (30).

According to the former Defence Secretary, the document on posted on social media was a fake and that he was in possession of the original copy received by him from the US authorities.

“The document that is being shared is a fake. I have the real copy with me,” he said.

However, Rajapaksa says he would not publicly share the original document as there was no requirement for it.

“I will provide the documents when required to the relevant authorities like the Elections Commission,” he said.

After noting that he is now in possession only of a Sri Lankan passport and not a dual passport, Rajapaksa said, “The Immigration Controller knows that I am now a single passport holder since I have received my new Sri Lankan passport, which I received after surrendering my former dual passport.”

The first phase of the Slave Island Redevelopment Project, Metro Homes was inaugurated on Thursday and handed over to the beneficiaries by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Well-built houses with all modern amenities were handed over to around 626 families and fully developed commercial spaces to around 114 shop owners. The investment made is around LKR 7000 million. It is a unique project completed by Tata Housing which has ensured re-housing of the existing community in a residential complex with improved infrastructure.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told the gathering that he looked forward to further strengthening the connectivity and people-to-people ties between both the countries.

In his inaugural speech, Indian High Commissioner Taranjit Singh Sandhu stressed that India and Sri Lanka are going through a phase of rapid urbanization and there was a need to ensure smart development of our cities with due emphasis on ‘inclusivity’ and ‘sustainability.'

Tata is a well-known name in Sri Lanka and is a global enterprise with an annual revenue of more than US$ 100 billion and with operations in more than 100 countries across the globe. They have operated in Sri Lanka since 1961 in several verticals like Transport, Communications, Hospitality etc.

President Maithripala Sirisena emphasised that religious leaders should take the lead in mending the hearts of the people that were broken in the tragic incident of April 21st. and added that politicians should fulfill their national responsibility in this regard leaving aside their narrow political agendas.

President Sirisena made these observations addressing the National Conference on Peace, Unity and Reconciliation held at the Nelum Pokuna Theater in Colombo, yesterday (30).

Although the lives lost due to the Easter Sunday attacks cannot be restored, the President said that everyone can come together to defeat terrorism and ensure peace, unity and reconciliation in the country for the sake of the future generation.

Sirisena added that the government has taken every possible step to eradicate the hatred, fear, suspicion and distrust among the people of Sri Lanka following the April 21st terror incident. He further said that all the political parties should come to a consensus under the guidance of all religious leaders to ensure national unity.

Accordingly, the President also pointed out that it is the responsibility of everybody to abstain from acts and conducts that create fear and distrust among the people.

This national conference was held with the participation of religious leaders and politicians.

The main objective of the conference is to promote peace, harmony, tolerance and trust among different ethnic groups and religions in Sri Lanka, to deliver the message to the world that different religious communities live in peace and harmony, and to ensure that the people of this country live in harmony and reconciliation.

A large number of religious leaders and foreign dignitaries including the Secretary General of the Muslim World League, Dr. Muhammad Bin Abdullah Karim Al Issa also participated in this event.