News
India and Sri Lanka sign USD 14 mn railway project agreement
Indian Railway Construction International Limited (IRCON) and Transport and Highways MInistry, Sri Lanka yesterday (21) signed a contract for design, installation, testing & commissioning ofsignalling system for Sri Lanka Railways from Maho to Anuradhapura (66 km).
Transport and Highways Minister Bandula Gunawardane and the High Commissioner of India in Sri Lanka Gopal Baglay were present on the occasion.The project is being executed under an Indian Line of Credit (LOC) of USD 318 million at a cost of USD 14.90 million.
In his remarks at the event, High Commissioner Baglay stressed the significance of the project for easing movement of the people of Sri Lanka, accelerating economic recovery of the country and strengthening the cooperation between the two countries. He highlighted that the project in the current situation, symbolises the continued desire of the Government of India to stand with the people of Sri Lanka.
Minister Gunawardane thanked Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and the Government of India for supporting Sri Lanka in multiple ways, especially during the economic crisis last year. It was also pointed out that Sri Lankan railway projects have received support in the form of LOCs (Line-of-Credit) in recent times only from India.
The Indian High Commission stated: “Projects of over USD 1 billion in the Railway sector have been completed under 5 Indian LOCs till date. IRCON Ltd, which started its operations in Sri Lanka in March 2009, has completed several projects in Sri Lanka with Indian assistance and has contributed significantly towards rehabilitation and modernization of Sri Lanka Railways, capacity building and employment generation.
At present, IRCON Ltd is undertaking a project for upgradation of the Railway Line including track Rehabilitation and ancillary works from Maho to Omanthai (128 km) at a cost of USD 91.27 million. Under this project, while track rehabilitation work from Anuradhapura to Omanthai has already been completed, work on the section from Anuradhapura to Maho will commence from January 2024.”
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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