Keheliya bungles with billions
MONDAY, 22 JULY 2013
For Media Minister and Cabinet spokesperson Keheliya Rambukwella, these few weeks have been bad times. Then, this week he began getting his figures mixed up when he was briefing journalists after the weekly Cabinet meeting. The minister was asked what would be the estimated expenditure for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to be hosted by Sri Lanka later in the year.
He said the expenditure would be around Rs. 50 to 60 billion surprising journalists. When he was questioned about it again he said the figure could be higher. But one of the journalists pointed out that the figure he has given was very high and initial media reports said the expenditure would be around Rs. 1.9 billion.
The minister corrected himself saying the estimated expenditure was around Rs. 1.9 billion. Later in the briefing he was asked about the expenditure for a road project and the minister said it could be Rs. 34 billion or Rs 3.4 billion.
The minister was questioned again and he said the figure was Rs. 34 billion. No doubt the value of the Sri Lanka rupee makes no sense nowadays, but bandying about vague figures like this goes to show what billions mean to ministers.
Lankan ship sinks off UAE coast
2013-07-23
Thirty-one crew men were rescued after their two ships collided off the coast of Umm Al Quwain in the early hours of Friday.
The police operations room was notified of the accident at around 3.30am and dispatched rescue teams to the area, about 9 nautical miles out.
"One of the ships with a Sri Lankan flag was coming from Iran to Dubai with 9 Indian crew members, it was empty, while the other ship with a Comoros Islands flag was leaving Dubai to Somalia with 22 crew members had a load of different goods including 46 cars," said UAQ police spokesman.
"After the collision the Sri Lankan ship sunk but all its crew were rescued and all were in good health."
He said efforts are underway to raise the sunken ship while the second vessel was brought to Sharjah Port for repairs.
Police said the cause of the accident was still being investigated but initial inquiries indicated the Sri Lankan ship had stopped and did not have its lights on.
It is suspected the ship had a malfunction with its engine, which cut out the power.
The case has been handed to UAQ prosecutors. (The National UAE)
