Namal’s black money invested in Dubai
Thursday, 20 June 2013 
The President’s eldest son MP Namal Rajapaksa according to his friends is trying to invest monies earned by him through commissions for various projects in Sri Lanka. They are discussing that Namal is looking at buying a hotel in Dubai using these monies.
It is a person called Nandana Lokuvithana residing in Dubai who is coordinating the transaction between Namal and the hotel owners. Nandana Lokuvithana earlier managed to buy the Steel Corporation for a pittance with Namal’s help.
SriLankan signs billion dollar agreement to purchase 10 Airbus aircraft
Thursday, 20 June 2013 SriLankan Airlines has signed a memorandum of understanding to order six new Airbus A330-300s and four A350-900s.
The memorandum was signed during the Paris Air Show and the deal is to cost the Sri Lankan government US$ 2.6 billion.
In addition to four Airbus A350-900 wide bodies it will order and which will be delivered from 2019 to 2023, the SriLankan is to take three more A350-900s on lease and these aircraft are to be delivered from 2017 to 2019.
SriLankan Airlines will take delivery of its six Airbus A330-300 wide bodies from October 2014 to December 2015.
“The efficiency, reliability and passenger appeal of our in-service A330s form the pillar of SriLankan’s long haul operations,” CEO of SriLankan Airlines, Kapila Chandrasena has said.
“Adding more new A330s to our fleet, combined with the unbeatable economics the A350 XWB will offer, allows us to achieve a strong economical performance.”
Cabinet identifies Shiranthi’s nephew’s project as a strategic development project
Thursday, 20 June 2013 The Cabinet has granted approval to a heavy industrial zone project in Sampur, Trincomalee that has been mooted by First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa’s nephew, Dilshan Wickremasinghe.
The approval has been given to Sri Lanka Gateway Industries (Pvt) Ltd., which is a company registered in Singapore.
The project has been identified by the government as a strategic development project and has been granted many tax exemptions that are provided to strategic development projects.
The Cabinet in 2011 approved the setting up of a special zone for heavy industry at Sampur in a land extent of 97 sq km.
However the project got delayed due to litigation by the landowners in the zone acquired by the Board of Investment (BOI).
The land has been given on a 99-year lease to Sri Lanka Gateway Industries (Pvt) Ltd.
The project is to be implemented in three phases at an investment of US$ 4 billion.
The first phase will see the construction of a deep-water jetty and a stockpile yard at a cost of US$ 700 million (more than Rs. 88.26 billion).
The second phase will involve the construction of an iron ore and coke production plant at a cost of US$ 1.3 billion and the final phase costing US$ 2 billion will develop a ship-building and repair facility, plant and machinery manufacturing, an automobile assembly plant and smaller support industries.
