Government to take over Sathosa Retail
by Nirushi Wimalaweera
At the Cabinet Meeting presided by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse
yesterday,(20) a Cabinet Memorandum to nationalize the Sathosa Retail
Limited presented by Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Jeyraj
Fernandopulle was approved by the Cabinet.
Following the CWE take over by the Government, the 150 CWE outlets
spread throughout the country will be reopened soon and the conditions
of service of the entire CWE work force, numbering 4825 will be secured,
said Minister Fernandopulle. All the CWE branches that were closed and
those that are undergoing closure will be replenished with consumer
goods as they were before and steps will be taken to provide goods to
consumers at concessionary rates, he said.
He further said that the main objectives of taking over were the
provision of consumer goods to the public without any scarcity and
guarantee security of service to the employees.
A spokesman for the CWE Retail Limited told our correspondent that
the Company requested the Government to take over the CWE as soon as
possible and also made a request to settle a sum of Rs. 30 million
presently due to the suppliers.
We further informed the Government to repay the sum of Rs. 680
million which the company paid to the Government when it was privatised
later, but to take over the CWE management soon, he said.
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