News

Petrol price jacked up to cover losses due to demurrage – official

Published

4 months ago

2023/02/4

By Shiran Ranasinghe

The price of petrol had been increased by Rs 30 recently mainly to cover the losses due to late payments for oil shipments, a senior Ceylon Petroleum Corporation official told The Island. The CPC has been making profits since the prices of fuel were increased, but it still has some expenses that makes it bleed money, he said.Around 70 percent of petrol and diesel were not refined here, he said.

“When we import petrol and diesel we have to pay demurrage, late fees, port charges and shipping charges. To meet these expenses, the CPC has been compelled to increase petrol price Rs 30,” he said, adding that in July 2022, the price of a barrel of petrol was USD 159 and it had dropped to USD 105 dollars. However, the price had gone up by USD 2.5 dollars in January compared to December 2022, he said.

Meanwhile, Chaminda Hettiarachchi, Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Power, said that the price had been increased according to the price formula for fuel.Media spokesperson of the Samagi Trade Unions Collective, Ananda Palitha, said that if the price had been increased due to the price formula, prices of other types of fuel, too, should increase.

Palitha said the CPC had earned a profit of Rs. 8 billion in 2022 and bonuses to the tune of Rs. 2.2 billion in December 2022.

“Right now, the CPC makes a 75-rupee profit from selling a litre of petrol, 60 rupees from diesel and 155 from kerosene. The CPC has to pay one billion rupees to banks. All these expenses are now passed on to the people,” he said, adding that if the Sapugaskanda Oil Refinery had been developed, the CPC would have been able to make bigger profits.

“It’s cheaper to import crude oil. The tankers are large, and we can bring in larger quantities at once. Also, the byproducts of refining can be used for many productive activities. This is what we have to do,” he said.

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News

PNS Shahjahan departs after successful naval exercise

Published

51 mins ago

2023/06/5

Priyan

The Pakistan Naval Ship (PNS) Shahjahan which arrived in Colombo on 02nd June 2023 on a two-day official visit, departed the island on 04th June 2023.

News

EC opposes govt. move to appoint its henchmen to monitor local councils

Published

10 hours ago

2023/06/5

Thilina Walpola

By Priyan de Silva

The Election Commission (ECSL) has opposed a move by the government to appoint representatives of the Chairpersons of the Regional Development Committee to monitor local government institutions.

ECSL Chairman Nimal G. Punchihewa told The Island that the government had informed the ECSL of its plan to appoint representatives of the Chairpersons of the Regional Development Committee to monitor the local government bodies and the ECSL had decided to write to the Ministry of Local Government opposing the move, he said. A Chairman of a regional development committee ESD a representative of a particular political party and it would be unfair by other parties for such appointments to be made, the EC Chairman said.

Punchihewa said that the administration of local government institutions could be done through Municipal Commissioners and Divisional Secretaries.Many political parties had complained against the government move, he said.

News

JVP says govt. has enough funds for elections

Published

11 hours ago

2023/06/5

Thilina Walpola

By Saman Indrajith

The JVP would file a fresh application before the Supreme Court against the government for not holding the local council polls, JVP MP Vijitha Herath said yesterday.Addressing the media at the party headquarters in Pelawatte, Herath said that his party had ascertained fresh information by invoking the Right to Information Act about the funds needed for the holding of the elections and his party would file another fundamental rights case against those responsible for conducting elections.

“The LG polls were to be held on 09 March. They were postponed until 25 April, and later they were put off indefinitely. The President appoints Governors to the provinces and the local councils are under them. Now, he says no party commands the support of 50 percent of voters.

Is this reason why he is not holding elections? His claim that there are no funds for elections is not acceptable. The Election Commission (EC) has, in a letter to the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, asked for Rs 1,100 million in installments for conducting local government elections. The Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, on 07 March, informed

the EC that the latter’s request had been referred to the Minister of Finance on the same day. But so far the money has not been released. As per a report released by the Treasury, the government revenue was Rs 177,900 million in January this year alone. Of that amount, Rs 156,760 was allocated to government institutions. The Treasury has Rs 21,410 million. In February, the government revenue was at Rs. 271,750 million and of that Rs. 208,620 million was spent. The balance was Rs 63,130 million. In January and February, the Treasury had Rs 84,270 million. These figures have been officially confirmed by a Deputy Treasury Secretary. The EC is seeking only Rs 2,460 million for elections. So, the claim that there is no money for elections is false as per official records. We will submit this information to the Supreme Court when we file a fresh application. We will prove that the government has lied to people,” Herath said.