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Joint development: Govt. offers proposed WCT to India, Japan

Published

2 years ago

2021/03/3

The government yesterday (2) said it would develop the proposed West Container Terminal (WCT) at the Colombo Port together with India and Japan, according to The Hindu newspaper.

Briefing the media on decisions taken at Monday’s weekly Cabinet meeting, spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said approval had been granted to develop the WCT with investors nominated by India and Japan. While India has named Adani Ports, which was earlier nominated to invest in the ECT, Japan is yet to respond, the Minister said.

After Sri Lanka reneged on the 2019 agreement, signed by the former President Maithripala Sirisena-Ranil Wickremesinghe government, Colombo offered the WCT as an alternative, allowing the foreign investors to hold a higher stake. In the ECT project agreed upon earlier, the Sri Lanka Ports Authority was to hold 51 % stakes. In the WCT proposal, cleared now, India and Japan will be accorded 85 % stakes, similar to the nearby Colombo International Container Terminal, where China Merchants Port Holdings Company Limited holds 85 % stakes, authorities said.

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Prices of sixty essential drugs to be reduced from 15th June

Published

3 hours ago

2023/06/6

Priyan

The Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal raised by the Minister of Health to reduce the maximum retail price of 60 medicines by 16% with effect from 15.06.2023 and review the price of medicines every three months

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Cabinet approval to publish draft bill on contempt of a court, a tribunal or an institution

Published

3 hours ago

2023/06/6

Priyan

The Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to the proposal submitted by the Minister of Justice, Prison Affairs and Constitutional Reforms for publishing the draft bill prepared by the Legal Draftsman which includes the clear and precise provisions and situational circumstances regarding the offense of ‘contempt of court’ , defense and easing the penalty as well as the procedure to follow when easing the penalty, in the government gazette and subsequently to be tabled in the Parliament for its concurrence.

Business

Cabinet approves rationalization of VAT exemptions and abolition of SVAT System

Published

4 hours ago

2023/06/6

Priyan

The Cabinet of Ministers granted concurrence to the resolution forwarded by the Minister of Finance, Economic Stabilization and National Policies to remove most of the releases from Value Added Tax (VAT), further retaining releases that ease the pressure on low – income families to secure the fundamental sectors of the economy as well as the releases for sectors such as education, health and agriculture, as well as to revise the provisions applicable for the Value Added Tax (VAT) act so that the Simplified Value Added Tax (SVAT) methodology can be canceled with effect from 01.01.2024 by introducing a more formal methodology for repaying the Value Added Tax (VAT) and to instruct the Legal Draftsman to prepare a draft bill for the purpose.