News
Govt. determined to have Muthurajawela listed as Ramsar Wetland
By Ifham Nizam
The Colombo City was declared the world’s first Ramsar Wetland by the Ramsar Convention due to efforts of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to conserve the wetlands during his tenure as Defence Secretary, said Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera.
The City has been named the world’s first wetland city by the Ramsar Convention for the conservation and development of all wetlands such as Beddagana, Kotte, Bellanwila, Kimbulawala, Kolonnawa, Diyasaru and Diyatha Uyana as beautiful and safe wetlands. However, Muthurajawela was not included in the Ramsar wetlands catalogue.
Minister Amaraweera yesterday said that it was the intention of the government to have the Urban Development Authority to conserve the Muthurajawela Wetland Sanctuary under the supervision of the Ministries of Environment, Wildlife and Urban Development.
A committee appointed to look into the issues regarding the Muthurajawela Wetland Sanctuary held a discussion at the Ministry of Environment on Tuesday.
Representatives of all relevant institutions; Environment, Wildlife, Agrarian Conservation, Agriculture, Urban Development Authority, Central Environmental Authority, Forest Conservation as well as a delegation representing the Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith as well as several representatives of environmental organizations were present at the meeting.
During the discussion, the group requested that Muthurajawela be taken over and developed as a sanctuary under the Wildlife Department.
Although Muthurajawela is spread over an area of 3,064 hectares in 1990, only 1,200 hectares remained today. As a result, they would have to spend a lot of money to implement alternatives to the lands currently occupied by different people and the Ministry of Environment and Wildlife would not be able to spend such a large amount of money to acquire them, Amaraweera added. .
He however said that steps would be taken to conserve the wetland under the Urban Development Authority so that it could be included in the Ramsar wetland list.
The Minister instructed the delegation to submit its decision to the committee within a week regarding the decision taken by the government to conserve Muthurajawela.
The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the proposal presented by the Minister of Transport, Highways, and Urban Development to award the contract for printing and supplying vehicle number plates for the Department of Motor Traffic for a period of five (5) years to M/s South Asian Technologies based on the recommendations of the High-Level Standing Procurement Committee and the Procurement Appeal Board.
The National Lotteries board has been established subject to the Finance Act No. 11 of 1963. Having identified the requirement of amending that act which was imposed around 62 years to cater the current requirements of the lottery market, the Cabinet of Mnisters at their meeting held on 14.02.2017 granted approval to draft a new bill for the purpose.
Accordingly, the National Lotteries Board has recognized further amendments to be performed to the fundamental draft bill prepared by the Legal Draftsmen.
Therefore, the Cabinet of Ministers granted approval for the
resolution furnished by the President in his office as the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to direct the Legal Draftsmen to finalize the formulation of the draft bill for the National Lotteries Board as soon as possible including the proposed new amendments as well.
The Werahara office of the Department of Motor Traffic performs issuance of temporary driving licenses in this country based on the driving licenses issued overseas, and measures have been initiated to render the service from a service window of the Department of Motor Traffic established at the Bandaranayake International Airport from 03.08.2025.
The fees charged for issuing temporary driving licenses have been published in Motor Vehicles (Driving License Levy) Regulations No. 3 of 2022 prepared under the provisions of the Motor Traffic (Authority 203) Act.
But, as the fee of Rupees 2,000/- charged for the service is not sufficient, the requirement of amending the regulations has been recognized.
The regulations for introducing the revised fees have been published in the government extraordinary gazette
notification No. 2463/04 dated 17.11.2025. Therefore, the Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to the resolution furnished by the Minister of Transport, Highways and Urban Development to
submit the regulations to the Parliament for its concurrence.
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