Author: TELO Admin

Sri Lanka’s Urban Development Authority is looking for land in the Kotte areas to move the offices of the President, Prime Minister and severa, state agencies from their current colonial era buildings, a media report said.

The buildings will then be leased to investors for tourism for 30-years, Sri Lanka’s The Sunday Times newspaper reported.

“On the instructions of President Ranil Wickremesinghe, UDA was looking for alternative land in the Sri Jaywardenapura-Kotte area to have the administrative complex in one location,” UDA Director General, Prasad Ranaweera, was quoted as saying in the newspaper

“After the identification of the location UDA hopes to report back to the President to draw out plans for a phased shift of the buildings.”

Some of the buildings date back to the British Colonial period.

Under a proposed ‘New Colombo Heritage City Plan’, the President’s House, the Secretariat, Temple Trees building and the Prime Minister’s office on Flower Road are likely to be protected as tourist attractions, the report said.

The General Post Office, the Foreign Ministry building, Police Headquarters, Air Force Headquarters, Navy Headquarters, Visumpaya, Shrvasthi (former MP’s hostel), the Gafoor building, the Irrigation Department building at Jawatte Road, the Welikada Prisons and the old Defence Ministry building at Galle Face have also been identified to be leased out.

The Sunday Times quoted Urban Development Prasanna Ranatunga as saying that discussion are underway with potential investors including from Georgia.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe is scheduled to visit India next month on his first official tour since assuming office as President, it is learnt.

A highly-placed Government source told The Sunday Morning that the President was expected to visit India between 20 and 30 July.

It is also learnt that 21 July has been tentatively set for the meeting between Wickremesinghe and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Wickremesinghe is also expected to hold discussions with senior ministers of the Indian Government.

Although it is the usual practice of most Sri Lankan presidents to make their first official visit to India after assuming office, Wickremesinghe could not make the visit until India officially extended an invitation to him.

India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar extended the invitation to Wickremesinghe to visit India. However, dates for the visit were delayed until an appointment was secured with the Indian Premier.

Interestingly, India had agreed to dates for Wickremesinghe’s Indian visit after he had received an invitation from China to attend the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Conference in China this October.

A recommendation for legal action against former state minister Lohan Ratwatte over his questionable visits to two prisons during the Gotabaya Rajapaksa regime is yet to be enforced.

His prosecution was recommended by retired judge Sarojani Kusala Weerawardena in her report handed over to the then prisons minister Ali Sabri in November 2021.

A copy of the report was made available to the Society for Peace and Religion a year after a request was made under the right to information act in June 2022.

In her report of inquiry, Weerawardena found Ratwatte to be punishable under the Penal Code for ordering 10 Tamil inmates at Anuradhapura Prison to kneel down and aiming a pistol at two of them.

Presently an MP, Ratwatte was also an accused in the murder of 10 Muslim youths at Udatalawinna in December 2001 and the gunning down of Fijian rugby coach Joel Prera.

Very close to the Rajapaksas, the son of former state defence minister Anuruddha Ratwatte is also closely related to ex-president Chandrika Kumaratunga.

His younger brother Chanuka is the managing director of Entrust Securities that has been accused of misappropriating Rs. 4,200 million of state money.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had talks with President Ranil Wickremesinghe on the plight of the families of the missing.

The ICRC Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, Christine Cipolla discussed the plight of the families of missing persons from all communities in Sri Lanka, when she met the President in Colombo.

Meanwhile, President Ranil Wickremesinghe convened a discussion at the Presidential Secretariat last afternoon (08) to address the Action Plan for Reconciliation.

During the meeting, the President instructed the relevant departments to expedite the drafting of legislation necessary for the plan’s implementation.

The progress of initiatives within five key areas -legislation, institutional activities, land issues, prisoner release, and power decentralization, was also reviewed.

The discussion encompassed several important topics. The implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), the establishment of a National Land Council, and the formulation of a National Land Policy were among the matters addressed.

Additionally, the President emphasized the need for enhanced operations of the Office of Missing Persons, including digitization efforts and the issuance of Certificates of Absence for individuals who had previously disappeared without trace.

Furthermore, President Wickremesinghe instructed the relevant parties to complete the ongoing initiatives to establish the Office of Reparations and the Office for National Unity and Reconciliation within the next two to three months. A comprehensive report on the progress of these programs was also requested.

Regarding land-related issues, particular attention was given to resolving problems associated with displaced persons’ resettlement, releasing privately held lands for public use, and addressing Mahaweli lands concerns. The President emphasized the urgency of taking immediate action to settle these land-related issues and tasked the officials with devising effective mechanisms for their resolution.

To address the release of prisoners and amnesty matters, the President instructed the relevant officials to submit a detailed report through the Ministry of Justice.

The discussion also covered topics such as power decentralization, provincial-level development plans, and the appointment of a Provincial Ombudsman. These matters were thoroughly deliberated upon to ensure effective governance and progress at the provincial level.

Several key individuals participated in the discussion, including Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Sabri, President’s Senior Adviser on National Security and Chief of Presidential Staff Sagala Ratnayaka, President’s Secretary Saman Ekanayake, Prime Minister’s Secretary Anura Dissanayake, Defence Ministry Secretary General Kamal Gunaratne (Rtd), Attorney General Sanjay Rajaratnam, and other heads of relevant line agencies.

Additionally, the Executive Director of the Missing Persons Office, District Secretaries of Jaffna, Mannar, Vavuniya, Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi, Batticaloa, Ampara, and Trincomalee, as well as Land Commissioners of Eastern and Northern Provinces, joined the discussion remotely via Zoom technology.