Friday, September 10, 2010

Namal Rajapaksa to open Mihin Lanka Airlines office in Jaffna

Namal Rajapaksa, son of Sri Lanka president and parliamentarian, is expected to open an office of Mihin Lanka Airlines in Jaffna Sunday. Mihin Lanka will begin a special flight service between Katunayake International Airport and Palaali Airport in Jaffna as Sri Lanka Ministry of Defence had given the Airlines permission to operate the local flight service, sources in Jaffna said.

Mihin Lanka which operates flights to limited destinations abroad including Tiruchirappalli (Thiruchchi) in South India is to engage in this local service, the sources added.

Local flights services are operated between Ratmalana Airport in Colombo and Palaali Airport.

Mihin Lanka Airlines will be the first to operate flight service between Katunayake International Airport and Palaali Airport, the sources said.

Source:www.allvoices.com

Thursday, September 9, 2010

India plans to build airport in Palaly

(August 11, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Airports Authority of India (AAI) plans to build an airport in Sri Lanka, which could be its first foray into the international market in about 30 years. The state-owned operator had earlier built airports in Libya and Yemen.

"We are looking at bidding for an airport at Palaly in Sri Lanka. We have recently done the feasibility study for the airport," said AAI Chairman V P Agarwal.

The airport is near the city of Jaffna and upgrading the airport will include building a runway and the terminal building and the project would be worth Rs 400-500 crore.

AAI has been developing 35 non-metro airports across the country at a cost of around Rs 12,000 crore. The authority is also taking up the city-side development of Kolkata, Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, Lucknow, Indore, Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Guwahati and Jaipur airports through public-private partnerships.- sify.com

Engineering Faculty for Jaffna University

The Jaffna University will get an Engineering Faculty very soon, and it will be located in Kilinochchi, said Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake yesterday. The Agriculture Science Faculty will also be relocated in Kilinochchi, he said. Mr. Dissanayake laid the foundation stones in Kilinochchi yesterday for the construction of the buildings for the Faculties.

The minister told Daily Mirror yesterday that there was a severe dearth of lecturers at the university, and that he would address the issue soon.

“I noticed that Jaffna students are more enthusiastic than others in pursuing higher studies.

Engineering Faculty for Jaffna Uni.

We will give them opportunities. We informed them that the present Tamil medium courses would be conducted in English from next year onwards. They were very happy,” he said.

He added that house rents and room charges had increased by leaps and bounds in Jaffna due to the influx of tourists from the south. He said this made it impossible for university students to find accommodation at a budgetary rate.

“People can easily get Rs.1,000 for a room per day in Jaffna now. Therefore university students have been asked to vacate their boarding places by the owners. We will build hostels in the university very soon,” he said.

Besides, he said, there were 200 differently-abled students at the university now. Each student, he said, was given Rs. 5,000 for their basic needs.

Source:http://www.dailymirror.lk/print/index.php/news/front-page-news/19961.html

Sri Lankan government to build a prison in Jaffna to accomodate 1,000 detainees

The Sri Lankan government plans to construct a prison complex in Jaffna that could accommodate 1,000 detainees.
The Cabinet yesterday approved the construction following a memorandum submitted by Rehabilitation and Prison Reforms Minister D.E.W. Gunasekara.
The new Prison complex will also include features needed for rehabilitation of detainees.The project is expected to cost an estimated Rs.272 million.
Currently the Jaffna Prison is maintained in four rented houses and need speedy restoration, the government has pointed out.
The government has said that a 2.5 acre land belonging to the Prisons Department, situated in Pannai area in Jaffna, will be used for purpose.

Source:http://www.colombopage.com/archive_10B/Sep09_1284041481JR.php

Sri Lanka Jaffna forum discuss path to knowledge economy

Academics and officials in Sri Lanka's northern Jaffna peninsular has debated ways to transform the agrarian and fisheries area to a knowledge-based economy with better education, a think has said.
P Balasundarampillai, a former vice chancellor of the Jaffna University has called for technical colleges and engineering universities to be established in the north to enhance the knowledge of Jaffna youth.

He was a participant in an open forum organized by the Point Pedro Point Pedro Institute of Development, a think tank and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, a German based foundation.

Balasundarampillai had cited the example of Tamilnadu in India, where tertiary education institutions were mushrooming.

During his tenure at the Jaffna University he had attempted to introduce information technology courses but some of his colleagues had stopped him saying IT should not be taught before starting an engineering course.

Balasundarampillai had Jaffna youths who completed high school enter British universities and do very well, but such human capital could benefit Jaffna it was developed there.

A senior regional government education official had explained that primary and secondary education delivery was being strengthened in the area under a new program.

Niranjan Nadarajah, a credit and risk manager for HSBC for the Asia Pacific region had said that knowledge is a greater wealth creator than any other sector.

He had said that that though Jaffna (North in general) is endowed with limited natural resources ('moola valam)' it is endowed with lot of brain resources ('moolai valam').

Nadarajah had urged educationists to align curricula to the needs of the market rather than expecting the market to absorb the output of schools and universities.

T Mahasivam, general secretary of the Ceylon Tamil Teachers’ Union has said human security was needed in the north and it was vital to have people’s participation in development planning.

A participant who held an opposite view had said too much focus was given to tertiary education and the Indian experience was not appropriate for Sri Lanka. Another had expressed fears about the entry of foreign and private universities to Sri Lanka.

Yet another had warned that business process outsourcing workers in India had suffered verbal abuse. Another participant had said he suspected that the forum was held to promote globalization at the behest of western interests.

The Pont Pedro Institute of Development said around 100 people including, academics, officials, students, businessmen, social activists and members of the civil society had participated.

Source:http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/fullstory.php?nid=1044090306