Cabinet DECISIONS

RDA permitted to import Bitumen for road development

On a proposal made by the President, in his capacity as the Minister of Ports and Highways, the Cabinet approval was granted for the Road Development Authority to import bitumen to expedite the road development projects in the country.

Road Development activities have increased by many fold over the recent years and the government has observed that the present demand for bitumen is very high and the supply by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation appears to be inadequate to meet the increased demand. This has caused delays in the implementation of Road Development Works.

SAARC Seed Bank to be set up in Sri Lanka

* The proposal made by Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, Minister of Agriculture, to establish SAARC seed bank in Sri Lanka was approved by the Cabinet.

*The objectives of setting up of the Seed Bank, as agreed upon by SAARC countries, are -

* To provide regional support to National Seed Security efforts; address regional seed shortages through collective actions and foster inter-country partnership;

* To promote increase of Seed Replacement Rate with appropriate varieties at a faster rate as far as possible so that the use of quality seeds for crop production can be ensured; and,

* To act as a Regional Seed Security reserve for the Member States.

At the recently held 17th SAARC Summit in the Maldives four agreements were signed and one of the agreements was Establishment of SAARC seed bank. Other three agreements were

* SAARC Agreement of Multilateral Arrangement for Recognition of conformity assessment.

* SAARC Agreement on Implementation of Regional Standards,

* SAARC Agreement on Rapid Response to Natural Disaster

Narammala - Giriulla Road to be developed with concrete surfacing

As per the proposal made by the President, as the Minister of Ports and Highways, the Cabinet decided to develop the road from Narammala to Giriulla, which is 16.93 km in length, on the B 308 Highway of Narammala - Dankotuwa Road with concrete surfacing.

* Cabinet approval has already been granted to rehabilitate 662.04 km, of roads with concrete surfacing through domestic contractors by obtaining the required funds amounting to around US$500 million from local Banks.

* The contract sum of Rs 1400 million is to be borrowed from the People's Bank to implement this project.

China to finance Lighting Sri Lanka Eastern Province Project

* On a proposal made by the President the Cabinet approval was

granted to obtain a credit facility of US $ 33 million through the Export Import Bank of China to finance lighting Sri Lankan Eastern Province project.

* The objective of the project is to electrify 268 villages in the Trincomalee and Batticaloa Districts.

* The project is expected to serve the increasing needs of the people in rural areas in the Province and will enhance the economic potential in the area by increasing productivity, creating new employment opportunities and improving the living standards of the community.

Rs 727 M for construction of Department of Census and Statistics Building

* The Department of Census and Statistics is housed in six locations in Colombo at present and it has been decided to construct a new building for this Department to house all its divisions in one building.

* Stage I of the Project was implemented with funds from the World Bank and the Government of Sri Lanka.

* The proposal made by the President, to award the contract for Phase II of the Project for a total contract sum of Rs 727,529,015.16 with funds to be provided by the Government, was approved by the Cabinet.