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Opposition calls for declaration of a ‘state of disaster’

Published

4 years ago

2021/05/12

SJB MPs Thalatha Atukorale, Eran Wickramaratne, Dr. Harsha de Silva and Kabir Hashim addressing the media at the Opposition Leader’s office on Monday

The main Opposition party, the SJB, on Monday called on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to summon an all-party conference on managing the evolving COVID-19 crisis quickly.

Addressing the media at the Opposition Leader’s office in Colombo, senior SJB MP Kabir Hashim, urged the government to heed the advice of medical experts and seek broad consultation to better manage what they termed as the hour of national crisis.

The SJB was prepared to help Hashim said. “We the SJB urge the Government to call an all-party conference to effectively manage the COVID-19 crisis. We must first save the public.”

MP Hashim said that prioritising economic revival and political interest over the health and well-being of the public was a failure on the part of the government and contributed to the transmission of the virus.

SJB Colombo District MP Dr. Harsha de Silva said: “I think the time has come for the government to call an all-party meeting and decide on how to obtain the assistance of the Opposition, but on the condition that decisions are made only on the advice of experts and not on political grounds.”

MP De Silva said that as medical experts had indicated that the coming weeks could see a public health emergency, the government should consider declaring a ‘state of disaster’ under the Disaster Management Act and allow the formulation of a more inclusive decision-making body. “Medical experts are pointing out that there is a disaster looming. The public is in danger.”

Dr. de Silva said that under the Disaster Management Act, the government could establish a Disaster Management Council, made up of the President, Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition, selected Ministers, Governors of the Provinces and five members of the Opposition. He reiterated that the Opposition was ready to help the government.

SJB MP Eran Wickramaratne said that the projections by the health experts were gloomy and immediate action had to be taken to arrest the situation.

He called on the government to appeal to friendly countries, the international community, and the UN to get mobile field hospitals, critical medical equipment and boost oxygen capacity as soon as possible.

“This will be a test of the government’s diplomacy. There is a need for 600,000 AstraZeneca vaccines. The amount is nothing compared to the millions of vaccines needed by some countries. Those who got the first dose are awaiting the second.”

Wickramaratne maintained that had the government heeded expert opinion and the views of the Opposition last year, a vaccine shortage would not have arisen. “We are six months behind the rest of the world in responding to the pandemic. This government has completely failed to control the COVID-19 outbreak. We have been telling them from the beginning that the task forces it has set up are not led by specialists. The government opened up the country at a time it should have remained closed.”

MP Wickramaratne said that the present infection rate was very high, and added that according to the data models they had seen the infection rate may reach 4,000 in the coming weeks. “When that happens, there may be a need for additional 10-12 ICU beds a day. Already ICU beds are scarce. This capacity needs to be increased.”

SJB Ratnapura District MP Thalatha Atukorale said that the government could not pass the blame for the rapid spread of the virus on to the public.

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French Navy Ship PROVENCE arrives in Port of Colombo

Published

5 hours ago

2025/03/17

Priyan

The French Navy Ship PROVENCE arrived at the Port of Colombo on a formal visit on Sunday (16 Mar 25) morning.

She was welcomed by the Sri Lanka Navy in compliance with the time-honoured naval traditions.

The 142.20m long Destroyer is Commanded by Captain Lionel SIEGFRIED and manned by a crew of 160 members.

During the stay in the island, crew members of PROVENCE will visit some tourist hotspots in the country and the ship is scheduled to depart the island on 20 Mar.

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Court of Appeal dismisses Ex-IGP’s writ petition

Published

5 hours ago

2025/03/17

Priyan

The Court of Appeal this [17] morning dismissed the writ petition filed by former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Deshabandu Tennakoon, seeking an interim injunction to prevent the execution of the arrest order issued by the Matara Magistrate’s Court against him.

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Project to distribute smart boards for 1,000 schools with the goal of enhancing education has completely failed to meet its objectives and the investment of LKR 1.7 billion has been underutilized -PM

Published

9 hours ago

2025/03/17

Priyan

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated that the project to distribute smart boards for 1,000 schools with the goal of enhancing education has completely failed to meet its objectives and the investment of LKR 1.7 billion has been underutilized.

The Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education, Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya made these remarks in the Parliament complex on Saturday [March 15, 2025] while discussing the project to establish networked classrooms by facilitating smart boards to the school system.

The Cabinet Memorandum No. AMP/24/0385/601/027 and the Cabinet decision dated March 4, 2024 has been presented for the approval of the provision of digital smart boards and other related equipment to 1,000 selected schools, with the objective of enhancing education through the establishment of a systematic network of smart classrooms within the school system funded by the Sri Lanka Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRCSL).

Subsequently, an additional Cabinet Memorandum, No. AMP/24/0978/630/009, dated May 14, 2024, was presented, proposing the implementation of this project in alignment with the project proposed by Chinese government for digitalizing Schools. Under this Chinese-funded project, plans were made to establish a centralized control center and a studio facility, along with the provision of an additional 500 smart boards. Accordingly, the integration of both projects was proposed to create a network of smart classrooms across 1,500 schools.

The cabinet decision has been presented requiring Sri Lankan Government to purchase smart boards with specifications identical to the smart boards which were proposed to be distributed by the Chinese Government.

In line with the Cabinet decision of May 14, 2024, the procurement for the 1,000 smart boards began in July 2024. However, at the time of purchase, the project proposed by the Chinese Government was still at the discussion stage, and no official agreement had been reached regarding the technical specifications of the smart boards.

However, the procurement was carried out through the Sri Lanka State Trading (General) Corporation without a competitive bidding process, relying on price quotations obtained from a single supplier based on unclear sources that were not officially verified by the Chinese government. The Sri Lanka Telecommunications Regulatory Commission incurred the full cost of LKR 1.7 billion, with an additional LKR 430 million allocated for services and installation.

The aforementioned procurement appears to have been conducted at an unusually accelerated pace when compared to the standard procedure typically followed for high-value procurements. Specifically, price quotations were requested on July 5, 2024, opened on July 15, 2024, and by July 16, 2024, the Technical Evaluation Committee had completed and submitted the report. Subsequently, the report was reviewed by the Standing Procurement Committee appointed by the Cabinet on July 17 and 18, 2024, with recommendations being provided on the same day. These recommendations were then submitted to the Cabinet on July 23, 2024, and approval was granted on July 30, 2024. Followed by this, the purchase requisition was issued to the supplier on August 5, 2024. Accordingly, the entire procurement process was completed within a span of one month.

As part of this procurement, a Letter of Credit was opened to facilitate the payment of USD 3,135,392.50 for 1,000 smart boards to Intelligent Express Limited Hong Kong, which has been identified as a representative of Huawei. While the relevant Cabinet paper indicated Huawei as the designated manufacturer supplying the smart boards under the Chinese funding project, the Chinese government has not yet confirmed the selection of such a supplier for this project.

According to aforementioned purchase requisition, the purchased smart boards and related equipment were delivered to the Ministry of Education in October 2024 and are currently stored at Pattala Gedara Teacher’s Training College. Although the procurement of the aforementioned Smart boards by the Sri Lankan Government has been finalized, the relevant project, which was intended to be implemented under the funding of Chinese government, has not yet commenced and a final agreement regarding its implementation has not been reached.

Prior to reaching a final agreement on the network integration facilities and centralized system proposed by the Chinese government, the procurement of these smart boards has resulted in the inability to utilize the equipment for the intended purpose. It is expected that the Chinese aid project is at the discussion stage, and the implementation may extend until the end of this year. Further, no official decision has been made regarding the selection of a supplier for the project.

Given this situation, if the 1,000 smart boards and other equipment currently stored in warehouses are to be distributed to schools, school principals must be provided with clear instructions on their proper use. However, due to the delay in implementing the project under the funding of the Chinese government, specific guidelines on the installation and utilization of the equipment cannot yet be issued.

Since network integration cannot be carried out at this stage, these smart boards can only be used as standalone classroom units. As a result, the objectives of the project will not be met, and the investment of LKR 1.7 billion made might be considered to be underutilized.

A formal investigation has been initiated to determine whether financial and procedural irregularities have occurred in this procurement. Additionally, discussions are currently continued with the Chinese government, and efforts are being made to secure the proposed facilities from China at the earliest convenience.

[Prime Minister’s Media Division]