Cabinet decisions

Establishment of Film and Teledrama Development Fund

The Cabinet of Ministers approved a Memorandum presented by Anura Priyadharshana Yapa, Minister of Mass Media and Information to Establishment of a Film and Teledrama Development Fund.

In the Budget for 2006 presented to the Parliament on 08th December 2005, H E the President, as Minister of Finance proposed that a special tax would be levied on imported teledramas and films in order to develop the local film and teledrama industry.

In accordance with this policy, the Protection of Government Revenue (Special Provisions) Act No 1 of 2006 was enacted on 06th January 2006 and the Finance Act No 11 of 2006 was certified by the Parliament on 31st March 2006.

The levies collected credited to a suitable account for utilization for projects aimed at development of local teledrama and film industry.

The Cabinet has approved the establishment of a Trust Fund under the title 'Films and Teledramas Development Fund' under the Act No 09 of 1917. More than Rs 50 million collected so far as imported teledrama levies will be credited to this Fund, which will be under the monitoring of the Treasury.

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Rehabilitation of Labugama and Kalatuwawa water treatment plants

The Cabinet has granted its approval to a Memorandum submitted by Dinesh Gunawardena, the Minister of Urban Development and Water Supply, for the rehabilitation of the Labugama and Kalatuwawa treatment plants with the financial assistance of the Hungarian Government.

Together with the assistance of the National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWS&DB) the a team of Hungarian Exime Bank identified these two water treatment plants are in a dire need of rehabilitation in order to meet the immediate demand of the current population.

As per the Feasibility Report proposed by the Hungarian Government, accepted by the NWS&DB under the guidance of the Exime Bank of Hungary, a financial package of Euro 35 Million is available for this project, in the form of a soft loan in accordance with the Hungarian Soft Loan Scheme.

A Project Committee will be appointed under the National Procurement Agency and a Cabinet Appointed Negotiation Committee to evaluate and finalise the Project proposal submitted by the nominated contractor Magyar Viztechnics KFT of Hungary.

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Ranawiru Township Complex at Ipalogama

The Cabinet has granted its approval to a Memorandum submitted by His Excellency President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Minister of Defence, Public Security, Law and Order for the implementation of the first phase of the construction of 50,000 houses for the war heroes at Ipalogama.

The construction of the work will be undertaken by NCASL Construction (Pvt) Ltd., which is under the sole ownership of the National Construction Association of Sri Lanka, the contractor of the project.

The State Engineering Corporation for providing engineering consultancy services, Bank of Ceylon for providing financial provisions and the National Construction Associations of Sri Lanka with the consent of Attorney General's Department will be entering into Agreements for this project.

In the first phase 1,620 houses will be constructed at a cost of Rs. 2,268 million with the next 18 months.

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Palavi-Kalpitiya road to be improved

The Cabinet has granted its approval to a Memorandum submitted by Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, the Minister of Highways for the improvement of 4km of the Palavi-Kalpitiya road.

The widening and improvement of the Palavi-Kalpitiya road is one of the items to be constructed under Norochcholai Power Plant Project, funded by Ministry of Power and Energy.

The contract is awarded to M/s MAGA Engineering (Pvt) Ltd., who is qualified to award the tender on good contract performance at a negotiated contract sum of Rs. 175,654,926.61.

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Upgrade the production of local B onions

The Cabinet has granted its approval to a Memorandum submitted by Chamal Rajapaksa, the Minister of Agriculture Development for the new strategies to be followed in the coming yala season to upgrade the production of high quality local B onions.

With the view of promoting the high quality B onion production, through the technology package introduced by the Department of Agriculture, production of high quality onion bulbs, facilities for storage, preservation and processing will be propagated.

Importation of local B onions will be 'limited or stopped' from the end of July to 15 of December in the coming years. When the local B onion production stored at present is over the importation tax will be reduced to Rs. 10.00 per kilo with the view of granting relief to both the producer and the consumer.

Continuous support will be provided to the farmers and producers for the construction of medium and large scale stores.

A procedure to sell the produced B onions through the C.W.E. budget shops will also be prepared.

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Administrative Board for Education Employees Co-operative Thrift and Credit Society Ltd.

The Cabinet has granted its approval to a Memorandum submitted by A.D. Susil Premajayantha, the Minister of Education, to appoint a new administrative board for the Education Employees Co-operative Thrift and Credit Society Ltd. and thereafter to hold the election of office-bearers and to appoint a Board of Directors.

As per this approval the Minister should take action to appoint an Interim Administrative Board consisting of the members of the Society instead of the present administrative board and to appoint the Board of Directors after conducting the election of the office-bearers.

The Board of Directors who were appointed by the vote of the members for the period of administration 1996/1999 were in power after the term of three years in an illegal manner without taking action to elect a new board.

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Volunteer teachers appointed as teacher assistants

The Cabinet has granted its approval to a Memorandum submitted by A.D. Susil Premajayantha, the Minister of Education, to appoint the volunteer teachers as teacher assistants.

Accordingly, volunteer teachers completed a three year service on 31st December 2005 will be given the new appointments. Within the next five years from 01st January 2007 and at the completion of qualifications as per the Teacher Service Minutes, these teacher assistants will be recruited into the service as permanent teachers.

A teacher assistant will receive a monthly allowance of Rs. 3,000 until he/she is permanently absorbed into the service at the completion of required qualifications. This scheme requires an estimated cost of Rs. 170 million annually, to pay the teacher assistants.