News
Jaffna is not the south of a third country: China envoy
BY SHIHAR ANEEZ
ECONOMYNEXT- China’s Ambassador to Colombo, Qi Zhenhong dismissed speculation about a recent visit to the northern Jaffna peninsula saying the journey was without any ‘hidden agenda’ to a part of Sri Lanka.
Ambassador Qi Zhenhong visited Jaffna’s Point Pedro, the northernmost end of Sri Lanka and Mannar from where a land bridge is thought to have existed at one time to Rameswaram in India.
“Jaffna is a city in Sri Lanka in the north of the island. It is not a city in the south of any other country,” Qi Zhenhong said when he was asked about his visit to Jaffna and his message to Jaffna people at a media briefing on Sunday.
“It is actually my duty to travel to different parts of this country as an ambassador of China to Sri Lanka. It is because of Covid-19 that I could not visit. I had a much earlier plan to visit different parts of the country.”
The visit came against a backdrop of suspended Chinese power projects in three islands off Jaffna after India had raised security concerns, government officials have said.
Qi Zhenhong’s visit to Jaffna had raised concerns as he distributed compensation for Sri Lanka’s northern fishermen who had been facing a lack of fish catch mainly due to Indian bottom trawling.
Some observers had characterized the visit as “provocative”.
China had been eyeing infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka’s war-torn north and east, but it hardly got any because of India’s dominant role in the region, Sri Lankan government officials have said.
“I know that it is a very important city in the north. It is a city of minority ethnicity and also after almost the end of three decades of war,” Qi Zhenhong said.
“I would like to see how the situation is and how the people there are. I would like to see what we can do as the Chinese government or Chinese embassy, what we can do to help local people and help development.”
“It is a very simple and open visit without any private or hidden agenda.”
The Cabinet of Ministers approved the resolution forwarded by the Minister Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation to appoint R. A. Chandana Saman Ranaweera Arachchi a special grade officer of Sri Lanka Administrative Service (SLAS) as the Commissioner
General of Lands.
Approval was granted at the cabinet meeting held on 05-08-2024 to resettle the unauthorized residents in the railway reserve from the Maligawatte Loco junction to Padukka railway station under the Colombo Suburban Railway Project.
Accordingly, resettlements in 694 housing units which were purchased from housing complexes owned by the Urban Development Authority have already been completed and further, 144 housing units are due
to be received from the Urban development Authority. In addition, a housing complex consisting of 120 housing units is being constructed on land in Kottawa, Malapalla area which is owned by the Railway Department for the resettlement of unauthorized residents in Maharagama, Homagama, Padukka area where there are no housing
schemes of the Urban Development Authority, and the constructions of that housing scheme is being completed at present.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the proposal presented by the Minister of Transport, Highways, Port, and Civil Aviation to transfer the land located in Kottawa, Marapalla, belonging to the Sri Lanka Railway Department, and the housing complex within the said land to the National Housing Development Authority as a free grant in terms of the provisions of Section 6(1) of the Government Land Ordinance and to implement the said program of providing the relevant deeds to the selected beneficiaries in such a way as not to burden them financially.
The Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to the resolution furnished by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation to appoint Dr. Mrs. E. R. S. P. Edirimanne serving as a special grade officer in Sri Lanka Agriculture Service in the post of Additional Secretary (Agri Technology) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation as the Commissioner General of Agriculture,
R A Chandana Saman Ranaweera Arachchi appointed as Commissioner General of Lands
Resettlement of unauthorized residents in Kelaniveli Railway Reserves
Dr. Mrs. E. R. S. P. Edirimanne appointed Commissioner General of Agriculture
-
News7 days agoFSP warns of Indian designs to swamp Sri Lanka
-
News6 days agoLatest tax hike yields Rs. 7 bn profit windfall for tobacco companies
-
Features6 days agoMyth of Free Education: A global perspective for Sri Lanka
-
Midweek Review7 days agoSC gave country timely reprieve from visa scam:
-
Features3 days agoIS THIS THE FINISH OF THE SRI LANKAN ELEPHANT?
-
Business7 days agoRenowned British publisher calls on govt. to reconsider clamping 18% VAT on books
-
Business7 days ago‘Amba Yaalu’ changes face of SL’s hospitality industry with all-women operated hotel
-
Opinion7 days agoSri Lanka’s new govt., Indo-Pacific debt trap, and struggle for the 21st Century – Part 2