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| Tea Estates, Jungles, bare lands available in Koslanda, Beragala, Diyaluma areas. Expression of interest to 07234467679 |
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| A star class hotel in Nuwara Eliya (with 108p land) Central Hills, Sri Lanka has been listed for sale. US$ 2.5m Expression of interest to vijay@realtorlanka.com |
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| Company Registration & Secretarial Services, Trade Mark Registration, Accounting & Auditing, Registration of EPF/ETF, Taxation, Budgeting & Cash Flow Statements, Feasibility Reports, Project Proposals & Business Plans, BOI, LRC, UDA, TAX & VISA related matters, Buying or Selling Lands, Buildings, Hotels, Travel, Transport, Holiday, Any type of legal matters, Property management, Emergency Services such as medical, ambulance and specialist consultancy, Weddings or other family functions, Advertising, Press conferences and Event management, Film locations & artistes search, Insurance, Ticketing or any requirements. Prompt service @ affordable fee.
Contact us on
072 3446779 or send details to vijay@colombofort.com |
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| Prime beach front bare lands are available in Arugam Bay, Eastern coastal tourist destination of Sri Lanka. Very close to the world's best surfing point. Ideal location for Tourist Projects and caravan parks. Investment @ US$ 17,500 per acre. Blocks of 1 acre to 10 acres available. Please contact vijay on 072 3446779 or email vijay@realtorlanka.com |
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| 240p bare land available in Kelaniya Biyagama Road for quick sale. Ideal for commercial ventures or residential scheme.
contact vijay 072 3446779 |
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| Heart of Colombo 15000 sq. ft. commercial building on 41p land with parking for 20 vehicles, with a monthly rental income of USD10,000 available for immediate sale. Price SLR 250 million. contact immediately 072 3446779 Vijay for appointment. |
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| 50 acres mixed crop land with 25 acres uncultivated section, 3 acre man made lake, natural water spring, a large rock etc etc. Price USD 125,000 or joint venture proposal considered. Promoter vijay@colombofort..com |
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| Please check the Ad Zone section for all details of the books listed for sale and the seller's contact details. Kind Donations too are accepted for the educational purpose. |
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| > Imagine owning a stately century old Scottish mansion situated in its own four acres of landscaped garden in Nuwara Eliya - Ceylon's Little England. The property contains original features and fittings as well as furniture and many other artefacts of its bygone heritage. It is close to the city with all infrastructure and it's available now for outright sale to a nostalgic discerning buyer. USD 10 million. |
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| Picturesque property facing Gampola - Nuwara Eliya main road, having an extend of 198p, 20 mts drive to Nuwara Eliya. Suitable for Holiday House, Resort Hotel, Leisure Centre or Meditation Centre.
Investment US$ 38000. |
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| 14.5p land/four storey building/13000 sq.ft./facing 30 feet wide road, 60 KVA standby Generator, Car park for 12 vehicles, fully air conditioned, tiled/carpet. 100 mts to Duplication Road. Investment US$ 830,000. |
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| 106.5p valuable land in highly developed Jaela town. 20 mts drive to KIA. All infrastructure available for Office/Shopping complex, Vehicle sales Centre, Logistic Centre or private hospital. Investment US$ 785,000. |
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| 5 acres flat land 300 meters to New Col-Katunayake Express Way bordering interchange. Ideally suited for Logistic Centre, Container Yard, Construction Yard, Educational Institute, Hospital or Hotel complex. 10 minutes drive to KIA. Investment US$ 590,000 only. |
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| IDEAL FOR AN AGRICULTURE PROJECT. ADJOINING A RESERVOIR. |
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| For expert English editing, contact Ruwanthi Wijesinge on 071 6992233 |
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| upstair house near two international schools - Lyceum and Leeds. value 10m going for 7.5m or nearest offer. contact 072 3446779 |
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| A colonial bungalow on a two acre landscaped garden is for sale in Kalutara district. Fully renovated and furnished. Once in a life time opportunity to own this unique property. Contact 072 3446779 |
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| Broadband Internet Cafe in For for sale with all equipment and connection. Rs.500,000 immediate. balance negotiable. Pls contact on 072 3446779 |
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| Come home, let’s rebuild sri lanka: President
Independence Day message to expatriates
By Sandun A Jayasekera
President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his Independence Day address to the nation yesterday extended an open invitation to all Sri Lankan expatriates to return to Sri Lanka and be part of the country’s reconstruction, development and peace process.
The 61st Independence Day celebrations were held at Galle Face Green last morning with a colourful march past, an air and sea display by the Sri Lanka Army, Navy, Air Force, Police and the Civil Defence Force.
Flanked by the Commanders of the armed forces and the Police Chief, President Rajapaksa hoisted the National Flag and received a 21-gun salute. The President’s address to the Nation was preceded by a Guard of Honour provided by the three armed forces and the police.
In a long speech where he outlined his vision for the country, a resolute President Rajapaksa said it was time for Sri Lankans who have left their motherland because of a war that had dragged on for more than 20 years, to return to the land of their birth and to the places they lived in.
In his address to the Nation he said:
“On this important occasion, on behalf of the entire Sri Lankan nation, I extend an open invitation to all Sri Lankans – Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, Burgher, Malay and all other communities, who left this country because of war to return to your motherland. Whatever the number of countries in the world, there is no place that is safer to anyone than the land of ones birth.
“We have raised the National Flag today over a motherland that is being united in keeping with the heartfelt wishes and prayers of our people.
My dear people who through sacrifice of life have come forward to defend the freedom of our land and through their blessings and every thought supported that struggle.
“However, due to repeated foreign incursions and invasions there were many challenges to the progress of the nation. The unbroken progress of her knowledge and technology was suddenly interrupted. With the dawn of Independence from British rule on February 4, 1948, she gained the opportunity to move towards progress in a manner that was inherent to our nation.
“Although every year in the past Sri Lanka has commemorated Independence through 30 years, she has have lived in the midst of an illegal, armed, terrorist movement. Therefore, throughout this period Sri Lanka could not celebrate true Freedom. Due to this terrorism the Sinhala and Muslim people who lived in the north were compelled to flee from their traditional lands. This period saw the massacre of Buddhist worshipers near the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi, at Anuradhapura. At Kaththankudi Muslims were killed while worshiping in their mosque. There were terrorist attacks on the pinnacle of Buddhist worship, the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic in Kandy. Innocent people were collectively massacred in many places of this land.
“That is not all, for the first time in the history of our land Tiger terrorists carried out ethnic cleansing. They sought to establish a fascist state in which the Sinhala and Muslim people, as well as the Tamil people who were not prepared to bow before them, would not live. A large number of democratic leaders of the Tamil people were killed by the terrorists. Similarly, many of our national leaders were assassinated by the forces of terror. The entire country was terrorized.
“Sri Lanka became the victim of the most powerful terrorist organization in the world. We had come to the verge of the separatist terrorists achieving their goal of dividing the country and establishing a separate state of Tamil Eelam. We were being compelled by some administrators of that time to except the so-called peace brought about by the division of the country, and the victory of the forces of terror. Many foreign forces attempted to persuade us that the path to achieving peace was to be subjugated by a terrorist organization that had power on land, sea and air as well as ruthless suicide killers. Together with this, some international institutions sought to show our country as a failed State, which pained the hearts and minds of all of us at the unfortunate fate that was sought to be bestowed on the land of our birth. We were finally challenged by this unfortunate fate that our great motherland could no more bear.
“At the 2005 presidential election, you handed to me and to our government the challenge of being victorious over the threat against us. We faced this daring challenge with determination and to somehow achieve victory over it. We have now been able, within a short span of two and half years, to almost completely defeat the cowardly forces of terror that had wrapped our entire nation in fear through several decades. This great victory has been brought to our country through our Army, Navy, Air Force, Police, the Police Special Task Force and Civil Defence Corps carrying out the task before them, jointly and with great dedication.
“Our troops have given us the opportunity to see the dawn of an honourable peace for the country. They have sacrificed their flesh, blood, sinews and life itself to bring this great historic opportunity to our motherland. Our troops were able to carry forward the battle against terror with great care so as not to cause harassment to the innocent Tamil people. The dignified peace that is now dawning upon us becomes greater and more unique than the peace enjoyed by the people of other countries, because it is built on the immense sacrifice of these heroes,” President Rajapaksa emphasized. I am confident that in a few days we will decisively defeat the terrorist force that many repeatedly kept saying was invincible. However, we should not think that with this alone we have overcome all challenges before us.” |
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| Four bed roomed very spacious house with garage, garden, modern comforts available for immediate purchase. Price 12million but can be negotiated for a reasonable price. |
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| 2.25 acres land available at Nawagamuwa, Kaduwela 25 KM from Colombo Port. main road access. High/low voltage electricity nearby. offers welcome. for details call 072 3446779. |
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| 45 acres property in Kurunagale district for sale.
valuable teak trees, paddy field, small bungalow.
company managed. offers welcome. 072 3446779 |
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| 15000 sq.ft. four story building with 20p land for car park (total 40p) available for quick sale.
Ideal for international schools, BPO ventures or restaurant. 072 3446 779 |
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| 200p flat land at Pore, Athurugiriya available for long lease. Main road access. Offers welcome from reputed establishments. 0723 446779 |
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COLOMBO: Work on the tallest twin tower in Sri Lanka will commence with a ‘ground-breaking’ ceremony next week.
Suchirindia, a Hyderabad based business group has ventured into the construction of the twin towers of 40 floors and 70 floors in Colombo in collaboration with NEB Rapid Infrastructure and the Government of Sri Lanka. It is being developed at a cost of US$ 250 million.
The residential tower is close to the Parliament complex and proposed main terminals of the metro railway. The total built-up area for the commercial tower including the convention centre and the residential tower would be two and a half million square feet.
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| BOI Approved Higher Educational Institution 12800 sq.ft. brand new fully tiled two floor building on large land with provision for third floor, with 1500 sq.ft canteen and other infrastructure situated in Piliyandala. Ideal for IT, BPO Centre, Paramedical, International School. Vocational training Centre etc.. |
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| Consultancies in the nongovernmental and private sector undertaken by senior professional.
Specializes in report writing, project feasibility studies as well as ground research on development issues.
Contact:
consultancieslanka@gmail.com
Phone – 2730898 / 5756039 / 0777 273395
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| 14.8p bare land available at Bambalapitiya, Glen Aber Place. Plan approved for 6 floor apartments. SLR 4m per perch. Offers welcome. Ocean view property. Tax holiday etc. |
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| 80p bare land Thalawathugoda/Hokanandara main road. Ideal for housing or any other suitable project. Offers welcome. |
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| House at Lake Drive for sale - on 9 perches - common pool and security. SLR 52 million. Option for renting at USD 2000 per month
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| A client wanted approx 40 - 50 p bare land with water front (Lake or river) for a reasonable price. |
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| An old house with 8 rooms 6 bathrooms parking for two available on 16.5 land for quick sale. Really Affordable price!!! Pay the land value only contact on 072 3446779 |
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| 3 BR house on 11p land in Mt.Lavinia near Galle Road centrally located. Excellent title 18m. Price negotiable. |
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| 3 BR house on 11p land with all facility near Galle Road centrally located 18m. Excellent title. Price negotiable. |
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H.M. Premathilaka Senior Lecturer, Department of Estate Management and Valuation, University of Sri Jayawardhanapura
Land is a form of accumulating and transferring wealth from generation to generations. It is the foundation of all forms of human activity.
Land which is a scarce natural resource plays a key role in development. Optimum allocation of land is important to ensure human welfare.
There are two kinds of mechanisms for distributing land resources within a society, land markets and governments. The main mechanism of distributing land resources within the City of Colombo is the land market. The Sri Lankan economy and society is vastly different to what it was in early 1960s.
This study examines the impact of economic, social, legal and policy changes that have occurred during this period on land market. It is assumed that the effects of above facts on land market are reflected through land values and frequency of land transactions.
In order to examine the above 420 land prices from past land sales were collected from five municipal wards and were categorised on the basis of two types of economic and political regimes, viz liberal regimes and dirigisme regimes and analysed.
This study shows that the land market development and changes are associated with different regimes.
Liberal regimes achieved higher economic growth and land market development and changes than the dirigisme regimes.
Introduction
Sri Lanka is committed to an open market economy, which implies development through perfectly competitive market. Land which is a scarce natural resource place a key role in development.
Land is the foundation of all forms of human activity. It is the means of life without which human beings could never have existed an on which their continued existence and progress depend.
Hence optimum allocation of the limited supply of this unique resource within local, regional, national and international levels is an importance aspect to ensure human welfare.
There are two kinds of mechanisms for distributing land resources within a society, land markets and governments. The main mechanism of distributing land resources within the city of Colombo is the land market.
Based on extensive literature review of the factors affecting property values in urban areas, some of the important components of property values can be listed as follows.
(a) Physical factors external to the property. The geographic location, the environment, (class of residents, and the type of residences in the immediate neighborhood and proximity to places of importance) public transport and infrastructural services such as electricity, water, sewerage drainage and telephone services.
(b) Factors integral to the property, the physical factors of the property (lie of the land, soil, shape and size) accessibility and economic and legal attributes and/or liabilities.
(c) The national and local economic conditions which determine the level of property values. Land values are also influenced by the social, cultural factors and life pattern of the people in the particular area.
Land values change when the above described factors that influence value change. This study examines the impact of economic, social, legal and policy changes that have occurred during this period on land market and it is mainly focused on pre liberalisation era and post liberalisation era.
If land markets function effectively, price signals can provide the information needed for efficient land allocation, where markets are defective, price signals work at less than full efficiency. (Harvey, 1996).
Effective functioning of land market depends on the national and local economic conditions which determine the level of property values, pattern of land ownership and distribution, land titling and registration, availability of a survey plan to identify the property with the boundaries, reduced transaction costs, transparency in transaction, balance knowledge of buyers and sellers, ability to obtain financial facilities and easy access to other relevant information. (Premathilaka, 1998).
Development
Over time the demand for land resources changes, brought about by changes in the size, income and tastes of the population, the rate of growth of economic activity, methods of transport, techniques of production and distribution.
On the supply side, existing buildings wear out or become less suitable to present uses, and the cost of constructing new buildings or adapting old buildings changes. Development is the response to such changes.
The fifty-eight years since the independence have witnessed significant structural changes and qualitative transformations in the economy. The predominantly agricultural economy of the 1950's has transformed into a diversified one.
This diversification, which was very gradual till the late 1970's, gained momentum in the last two and a half decades. The most notable feature of this transformation is the structural change where manufacturing and services make a higher contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) than agriculture.
By 2004 industry contributed 26.5 per cent of GDP, while agriculture, forestry and fishing together contributed 17.9 per cent of GDP.
This is in sharp contrast to the structure of the economy in 1950, when agriculture's contribution was 41 per cent and manufacturing (consisting mainly of processing tea, rubber and coconut) accounted for only 16 per cent of GDP.
This contribution of services rose from 41 per cent in 1950 to 55.7 per cent of GDP by 2004. (Central Bank Annual Reports 1951 - 2004).
Though, there is a tendency to think of the period before 1977 as one of little change. In fact, there were significant economic and social transformations that occurred between 1950 and 1977. This period also witnessed profound changes in the ownership and management of economic enterprises.
Bus transport was nationalised in 1958. In 1961 the Bank of Ceylon was nationalised and the People's Bank and the Insurance Corporation were established as State enterprises. From 1970 to 1977 the country moved into an import-substitution industrial strategy.
The plantations were taken over by the State in 1972-74 and several State industrial enterprises were also established. In short, the commanding heights of the economy were vested in the State.
The Post liberalisation era
The economic reforms introduced in November 1977 marked a watershed in the country's economy. They reversed the policies pursued from 1970 to 1977.
The economic reforms included the liberalisation of trade and exchange controls, and the introduction of an economic strategy dependent on private investment and market forces. Foreign investment was encouraged and a greater reliance was placed on export.
To support these policies, the Government adopted a unified exchange rate, devalued the Sri Lankan Rupee and adopted a floating exchange rate.
These policy reforms relied on large-scale support from international agencies, notably the IMF and World Bank and donor countries.
These reforms of 1977 were a sharp break from past economic regimes. The new policies transformed a closed tightly-controlled inward looking economy into a market-oriented outward-looking one.
It was the beginning of a process that laid greater emphasis on private enterprise and lesser reliance on State owned and controlled economic enterprises.
Foreign assistance was aggressively sought and successfully obtained. The multi-lateral agencies supported the liberalised measure. The IMF provided balance of payments support, while the World Bank gave long-term credit for development programmes and arranged donor assistance through the annual Aid Club meetings. The fiscal policy orientation changed drastically.
Fiscal policies were used to support the market orientation and private sector emphasis on economic growth and to create a climate conducive to private investment and private economic enterprises.
The reduction in taxes and the use of a wide range of tax incentives encouraged investment. Direct taxation became an instrument for resource allocation rather than to mobilise resources for public investment or for income distribution.
The emphasis in government expenditure shifted to investment, particularly in infrastructure and large-scale projects like the Accelerated Mahaweli Scheme, rather than on consumption, welfare and social development expenditure. (Jayasundara 1986: 56-57).
The economic policies pursued included an urban renewal programme, the development of economic infrastructure, the establishment of a Free Trade Zone and the implementation of an Accelerated Mahaweli Development Programme, which was to increase agricultural production and enhance energy by the generation of hydro electricity.
The economic reforms and enhanced foreign funds led to a high rate of economic growth till 1983, when ethnic violence resulted in a setback. The subsequent period of terrorism undermined business confidence, foreign investment and tourism, besides dislocating agriculture, fisheries and a few industries in the North.
The economic growth rate fell from 4.3 per cent in 1986 to 1.5 per cent in 1987. The insurgency in the South from 1987 to 1989 dislocated work and seriously impaired economic activity. In 1988-89 growth averaged only 2.5 per cent.
The weak economic performance in the late 1980s led the government to adopt further structural reforms to strengthen budgetary management, reducing inflation and improving the balance of payments and external reserve position that had weakened considerably.
The economy was liberalised further after 1989.
The process of privatisation gained momentum and by end 1993, 42 State enterprises had been privatised.
Further, most of the State owned plantations were handed over to 22 companies for management.
The two State banks were re-structured to meet the capital adequacy requirements by the infusion of Rs. 24 billion and restrictions on foreign investment in the Colombo Stock Market were removed.
The change of government in 1994 was very significant. For the first time since independence, despite a change of government, a continuity of economic policies was assured. The government announced its commitment to continue market friendly open economic policies.
It too gave private enterprise the lead role in economic activity and pledged to support private enterprise and characterized its strategy as "Open Economic Polices With a Human Face".
The government liberalised trade further by decreasing tariffs, reduced corporate and personal taxation to a maximum of 30 per cent. The corporate tax rate was reduced to 15 per cent for enterprises in agriculture, fisheries, livestock and tourism. It gave further incentives for foreign investment and embarked on a far-reaching programme of privatisation.
The government privatised, inter alia, the plantations, telecommunications, the National Development Bank and AirLanka. It introduced a new safety net for the poor, Samurdhi, which was similar to the earlier Janasaviya programme.
The government also gave incentives for garment industries to be established in the regions and introduced a number of measures to assist agriculture.
Economic growth has varied significantly within this period. In the 1950's the economy grew by an annual average of 3 per cent; in the 1960's by 4.7 per cent: and in the 1970's by 3.9 per cent.
Economic growth has been somewhat higher in the last two decades. In the 1980's we achieved an economic growth of 4.3 per cent, and in the 1990's it was still higher at 5.2 per cent per year. In the last five years (2000-2004) the economy grew by only 4 per cent.
The periods of very low growth have been due to external shocks, internal disruptions or both. In the 1970 - 74 period the annual economic growth was only 2.9 per cent.
During this period, adverse terms of trade caused by sharp oil price hikes and international food grin shortages, created enormous strains on foreign exchange resources and fiscal operations.
The insurgency of 1971 disrupted nearly all economic activities and increased government expenditures on defence from less than 1 per cent of GDP to 4 per cent of GDP in 1972 - 75. In 1971 the growth rate dropped to as low as 0.2 per cent.
A severe drought, coinciding with the escalation of international prices of food, fertiliser and oil, led to severe hardships and constraints on economic growth.
Again in 1987 - 89 the annual average economic growth was only 2.2 per cent. The insurgency, which disrupted nearly all economic activities, was mainly responsible for this severe dip in economic growth from an annual average of 4.8 per cent in the previous three years to only 2.2 per cent per year in the next three years (1987-89).
Once again there was a slowing down in the economy prior to 1987, partly due to the North-East war and partly owing to a slowing down of foreign investment and budgetary difficulties (Atukorala and Jayasuriya 1994).
Several other years of low growth were associated with internal shock. In 1983-84 economic growth slipped to 5 per cent from the average of 6.2 per cent for the 1978-82 period owing to the ethnic violence in July 1983.
Economic growth fell to as low as 3.8 per cent in 1996, when drought conditions, not only affected domestic agricultural production, but created an energy crisis, which disrupted industrial production. In contrast, periods of high growth did not suffer such external and internal shocks.
Alternating economic policies were a significant factor in retarding the country's economic growth.
The discontinuity of economic policies was an important factor for slowing economic growth.
Fundamentally different economic regimes alternated giving rise to considerable uncertainty, reversal of economic polices and an unsatisfactory climate for foreign and domestic investment.
These alternating policy regimes provide useful perspectives on economic growth as differing economic growth rates are associated with different regimes. Periods of economic liberalisation, free trade, lesser controls and lesser State management achieved higher rates of economic growth than periods of State control of the economy.
The administrative area coming under the purview of Colombo Municipal Council is relatively small in extent 37.29 sq.km. which accommodates les than one million inhabitants. The city experienced a slow population growth rate, i.e., annual growth rate during the period 1981 - 2001 was 0.4%.
The current city population (as per population census of 2001) was 642,020 people, which is only an increase of 79,570 people (12%) during the last 30 year period since 1971.
Method
It is assumed that the levels of values in the property market is influenced by the economic growth levels political stability and government policy of the country.
In order to examine the impact of economic, legal and policy changes 420 land prices from past land sales of last forty years were collected from Municipal Wards of Kommpagngnaweediya, Wekanda, Hunupitiya and Cinnamon Garden of Colombo City and analysed according to the two types of economic and political regions.
Physical development (change of skyline), opening of new roads, infrastructure facilities, service sector improvements (opening of branch of various banks) were observed and identified as the indicators of development and change influencing level of property values in the study area.
It is observed that the property values reached its peak in 1969 and gradually falls down up to 1977 and again starts increasing since 1977. Further confirms the Chief Valuer's statement on property market in his administration report for the year 1978.
This study clearly shows that there is a positive relationship between economic growth and level of land values.
Reasons for the cause of downward trend in the level of property values during 1970 - 1977 were examined and found that the State has acquired some private properties in the study area during this period discouraging private sector investment in the property market.
Some of the legislative enactments passed by the parliament during this period are the reasons for it.
(i) Protection of Tenancy Special Provision Act, No. 28 of 1970.
(ii) Direct intervention on private property rights by the government. Land Reform Law, No. 1 of 1972 to reduce the concentration of ownership of land in a few hands, ceiling limit to ownership of property (maximum 50 acres)
(iii) Ceiling on Housing Property Law No. 1 of 1973.
(iv) Rent Act, No. 7 of 1972 (direct price control)
(v) Land Reform Amendment Act No. 39 of 1975 (Acquisition of Tea Estates owned by foreign companies). It is observed during this period some of the tea companies sold their offices and tea stores in the study area.
(vi) Business Undertakings (Acquisition) Act, No. 35 of 1971
Urban Development Authority Law, No. 41 of 1978 was enacted and the Urban Development Authority was established in 1978 with the objective to promote integrated planning and implementation of economic social and physical development of certain areas as may be declared by the Minister and the Colombo Municipal area was declared as a development area on September 30, 1978.
It is observed by 1977/78 property values started rising. By this time there were several important features that influence the property development activates as introduced by the State, and also by the private sector.
The State had given a lot of prominent, and attractive concessions to investors on housing development, and the number of private property developers in the Urban Sector was growing.
This trend continued until 1983.
As a result by 1978/79 property values started rising. By this time there were several important features that influence the property development activities as introduced by the State, and also by the private sector.
The State had given a lot of prominent and attractive concessions to investors on housing development, and the number of private property dev elopers in the Urban Sector was growing.
This trend continued until 1983.
In 1983 due to the unsettled conditions that prevailed in the country there was a slight setback in the Urban property market, but still there was no reduction in property values, the number of transactions that took place were few.
By 1986 the price of Urban property started rising again. During this period property values in major cities rose rapidly as there was instability in most of the remote areas in the country due to insurgent activities.
During the period 1990/93 it is observed very steep increases in Urban property values both in the case of commercial and residential properties.
It is observed that in 1995 the economic conditions of the country was not stable and a decline in the share market, nevertheless there was no decline in the property market. Investments on property market mainly on Urban property seemed to be the best secured investment.
The reasons observed for rapid escalation in land prices is mainly due to the physical development in the study area.
Produced by Lake House Copyright © 2008 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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| Wanted 5000 - 10000 sq.ft. Commercial Building with parking for 10 - 15 vehicles for a project office. Colombo 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or immediate suburbs preferred. Please call on 0723 46 779 |
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Republic of India
The history of India is shrouded in antiquity. The country has been
thought of as a nation of philosophers with a well-developed and even
idyllic society. Excavations of sites belonging to the Harappan era show
that the people lived in brick houses in towns with excellent drainage.
One of the oldest scriptures in the world is the four-volume Vedas that
many regard as the repository national thoughts that anticipated some of
the modern scientific discoveries.
Despite formidable barriers in the form of the mighty Himalayas and
oceans, India also received a succession of foreigners, many of them
carrying swords and guns. But nearly all of them stayed on.
Out of these waves of immigration has emerged the composite culture of
India and made it a land of unity in diversity. India became a land of
assimilation and learning, a land of change and continuity. The Aryans
were among the first to arrive in India, which was inhabited by the
Dravidians.
Others who came here included Greeks, Persians, Mughal and even British,
Portuguese and French. Over the years there have been many major ruling
dynasties like the Shakas, the Kushans, the Maurayas and Guptas. Nearly
every major religion in the world is represented in India, which is also
the land of the Buddha, Lord Mahavira and Guru Nanak Dev, the founders
of Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism.
India is the seventh largest country by geographical area, the second
most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world.
Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west,
and the Bay of Bengal on the east, India has a coastline of 7,517
kilometres. It borders Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to
the north-east; and Bangladesh and Myanmar (Burma) to the east.
India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and Indonesia in
the Indian Ocean.
Home to the Indus Valley Civilization and a region of historic trade
routes and vast empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with its
commercial and cultural wealth for much of its long history.
Four major world religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism
originated here, while Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam
arrived in the first millennium CE and shaped the region’s diverse culture.
Gradually annexed by the British East India Company from the early
eighteenth century and colonised by the United Kingdom from the
mid-nineteenth century, India became a modern nation state in 1947 after
a struggle for independence that was marked by widespread nonviolent
resistance.
During the first half of the twentieth century, a nationwide struggle
for independence was launched by the Indian National Congress and other
political organizations.
In the 1920s and 1930, a movement led by Mahatma Gandhi, and displaying
commitment to ahimsa, or non-violence, millions of protesters engaged in
mass campaigns of civil disobedience.
Finally, on 15 August 1947, India gained independence from British rule,
but was partitioned with independent governments for the Dominion of
India and the Dominion of Pakistan in accordance to wishes of the Muslim
League, along the lines of religion to create the Islamic nation state
of Pakistan.
Three years later, on 26 January 1950, India became a republic and a new
constitution came into effect.
India has the world’s twelfth largest economy at market exchange rates
and the fourth largest in purchasing power. Economic reforms have
transformed it into the second fastest growing large economy; however,
it still suffers from high levels of poverty, illiteracy, and malnutrition.
A pluralistic, multilingual, and multiethnic society, India is also home
to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats.
India is a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement and the United
Nations (as part of British India). In 1974, India conducted an
underground nuclear test.
This was followed by five more tests in 1998, making India a nuclear
state. Beginning in 1991, significant economic reforms have transformed
India into one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, adding to
its global and regional clout.
The Constitution of India, the longest and the most exhaustive
constitution of any independent nation in the world, came into force on
January 26, 1950.
The preamble of the Constitution defines India as a sovereign,
socialist, secular, democratic republic. India has a quasi-federal form
of government and a bicameral parliament operating under a
Westminster-style parliamentary system. It has three branches of
governance: the Legislature, Executive, and Judiciary.
The President of India is the official head of state, elected indirectly
by an electoral college for a five-year term. The Prime Minister,
however, exercises most executive powers.
The Prime Minister is appointed by the President and, by convention, is
the candidate supported by the party or political alliance holding the
majority of seats in the lower house of Parliament. The current
President is Prathibha Patil.
***********
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is the 17th and current Prime Minister of
India. Singh is a member of the Indian National Congress party, and
became the first Sikh Prime Minister of India on May 22, 2004.
He is considered one of the most influential figures in India’s recent
history, mainly because of the economic reforms he had initiated in 1991
when he was Finance Minister under Prime Minister Narasimha Rao.
He was born on 26 September 1932, in Gah, Punjab. He has an
Undergraduate (1952) and a Master’s degree (1954) from Panjab
University, Chandigarh; an Undergraduate degree (1957) from Cambridge
University (St. John’s College) and a Ph.D (1962) from Oxford University
(Nuffield College).
In 1997, the University of Alberta presented him with an Honorary Doctor
of Laws. The University of Oxford awarded him an honorary Doctor of
Civil Law degree in June 2005, and in October 2006, the University of
Cambridge followed with the same honour.
St John’s College and the University of Cambridge further honoured him
by naming a PhD Scholarship after him, the Dr Manmohan Singh Scholarship.
Singh, an economist by profession, worked for the International Monetary
Fund in his younger days. Dr. Singh is known to be an unassuming
politician, enjoying a formidable, highly respected and admired image.
Due to his work at the UN, International Monetary Fund and other
international bodies, he is highly respected around the world. He was
awarded the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award in 2002.
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Republic of Maldives
The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, is an island nation
consisting of a group of atolls belonging to the Maldive and Suvadive
archipelagoes in the Indian Ocean.
The Maldives is located south of India’s Lakshadweep islands, and about
seven hundred kilometres south-west of Sri Lanka. The twenty-six atolls
of Maldives’ encompass a territory featuring 1,192 islets, two hundred
and fifty islands of which are inhabited.
The inhabitants were Buddhist, probably since Ashoka’s period, in the
3rd century BC. Islam was introduced in 1153. The Maldives came then
under the influence of the Portuguese (1558) and the Dutch (1654)
seaborne empires. And in 1887 it became a British protectorate.
In 1965, the Maldives obtained independence from Britain (originally
under the name “Maldive Islands”), and in 1968 the Sultanate was
replaced by a Republic.
The Maldives is the smallest Asian country in terms of population. It is
also the smallest predominantly Muslim nation in the world.
Comparative studies of Maldivian oral, linguistic and cultural
traditions and customs confirm that the first settlers were Dravidian
people from the nearest coasts, most probably fishermen from the
southwest coasts of the modern Indian Subcontinent and the western
shores of modern Sri Lanka during the early Chera period.
Buddhism came to the Maldives at the time of Emperor Ashoka’s expansion
and became the dominant religion of the people of the Maldives until the
12th century AD.
Western interest in the archaeological remains of early cultures on the
Maldives began with the work of H.C.P. Bell, a British commissioner of
the Ceylon Civil Service.
Bell was shipwrecked on the islands in 1879, and returned several times
to investigate ancient Buddhist ruins. He studied the ancient mounds,
called havitta or ustubu (these names are derived from chaitiya or
stupa) by the Maldivians, which are found on many of the atolls.
The entire archipelago was conquered by the medieval Chola Tamil emperor
Raja Raja Chola I in the early 11th century, becoming a part of the
Chola empire. The conversion to Islam is mentioned in the ancient edicts
written in copper plates from the end of the 12th century AD.
There is also a locally well-known legend about a foreign saint (a
Persian from the city of Tabriz or a Moroccan Berber according to the
versions) who subdued a demon known as Rannamaari.
Over the centuries, the islands have been visited and their development
influenced by sailors and traders from countries on the Arabian Sea and
the Bay of Bengal.
Although governed as an independent Islamic sultanate from 1153 to 1968,
the Maldives was a British protectorate from 1887 until July 25, 1965.
After independence from Britain in 1965, the sultanate continued to
operate for another three years under King Muhammad Fareed. On November
11, 1968, the monarchy was abolished and replaced by a republic.
Today Tourism, Maldives’ largest industry, accounts for 28% of GDP and
more than 60% of the Maldives’ foreign exchange receipts. Over 90% of
government tax revenue comes from import duties and tourism-related
taxes. Fishing is the second leading sector.
Politics in the Maldives takes place in the framework of a presidential
republic, whereby the President is the head of Government. The President
heads the executive branch and appoints the cabinet. The President is
nominated to a five-year term by a secret ballot of the Majlis
(parliament), a nomination which is confirmed by national referendum.
Nearly thirty-six members of the existing parliament joined the Dhivehi
Raiyyathunge Party (the Maldivian People’s Party) and elected President
Gayoom as its leader. Since 1996, the Maldives has been the official
progress monitor of the Indian Ocean Commission.
**************** *
President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom
Born on December 29, 1937, President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has been the
President of the Republic of Maldives since November 11, 1978,
succeeding Ibrahim Nasir.
Much of Gayoom’s early life was spent in Egypt. He was among the 15
students selected at the direction of the then-president Mohamed Amin
Didi for special education overseas. At the age of 10, he left for Egypt
on September 15, 1947, with a stopover in Ceylon for a few days.
However, his departure from Ceylon was delayed for two and a half years
because of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, during which he completed his
secondary education at Royal College, Colombo.
When the war ended, he left for Egypt in March 1950 along with other
Maldivian students. Gayoom attended Al-Azhar University in Egypt. He
spent six months learning Arabic so he could enrol in the Faculty of
Sharia and Civil Law to study for a Diploma of Education.
In 1966, he obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Islamic Sharia and Civil
Law, with honours. Gayoom came out first in the Faculty of Islamic Law
and Studies at Al-Azhar University and was awarded his graduation
certificate by Gamal Abdel Nasser.On March 12, 1973, Gayoom was placed
under house arrest for criticising President Ibrahim Nasir’s policies.
He was tried in court and sentenced to banishment for four years on May
14, 1973. On May 21, he was taken to Makunudhoo Island of Haa Dhaalu
Atoll. After serving five months of his sentence, Gayoom was released on
October 13, 1973 as a result of Nasir’s amnesty following his
re-election for another five-year term.
As Ibrahim Nasir’s second term was coming to an end, he wanted someone
else running for the presidency. In June 1978, the Citizen’s Majlis was
called upon to nominate a presidential candidate.
Forty five voted for Nasir, while the remaining 3 voted for Gayoom.
There was another ballot on June 16, in which four people participated.
27 voted for Gayoom, enough for him to be put forward as a candidate.
Five months later, he was elected with 92.96% of the votes as the new
President of the Maldives. The grand reception of his inauguration was
held at Majeediyaa School on the night of November 10, 1978.
He escaped an assassination attempt last year, when a schoolboy rescued
him from a knife-wielding attacker. He has participated in every SAARC
summit held so far.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Produced by Lake House Copyright © 2006 The Associated Newspapers of
Ceylon Ltd.
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Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a
landlocked country that is located approximately in the center of Asia.
It is variously designated as geographically located within Central
Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East. It has religious,
ethno-linguistic, and geographic links with most of its neighbouring
states.
It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and east, Iran in the west,
Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north, and China in the
far northeast. The name Afghanistan means the “Land of Afghans.”
Afghanistan is a culturally mixed nation, a crossroads between the East
and the West, and has been an ancient focal point of trade and migration.
It has an important geostrategical location, connecting South, Central
and Southwest Asia.
During its long history, the land has seen various invaders and
conquerors, while on the other hand, local entities invaded the
surrounding vast regions to form their own empires. Ahmad Shah Durrani
created the Durrani Empire in 1747, with its capital at Kandahar.
Subsequently, the capital was shifted to Kabul and most of its
territories ceded to former neighbouring countries.
In the late 19th century, Afghanistan became a buffer state in “The
Great Game” played between the British Indian Empire and Russian Empire.
On August 19, 1919, following the third Anglo-Afghan war, the country
regained full independence from the United Kingdom over its foreign
affairs.
Since the late 1970s Afghanistan has suffered continuous and brutal
civil war, which included foreign interventions in the form of the 1979
Soviet invasion and the recent 2001 US-led invasion that toppled the
Taliban government.
In late 2001 the United Nations Security Council authorized the creation
of an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). This force is
composed of NATO troops that are involved in assisting the government of
President Hamid Karzai in establishing the writ of law as well as
rebuilding key infrastructures in the nation. In 2005, the United States
and Afghanistan signed a strategic partnership agreement committing both
nations to a long-term relationship.
In the meantime, multi-billion US dollars have also been provided by the
international community for the reconstruction of the country.
Though the modern state of Afghanistan was founded or created in 1747 by
Ahmad Shah Durrani, the land has an ancient history and various
timelines of different civilizations. Excavation of prehistoric sites by
Louis Dupree, the University of Pennsylvania, the Smithsonian
Institution and others suggests that humans were living in what is now
Afghanistan at least 50,000 years ago, and that farming communities of
the area were among the earliest in the world.
Afghanistan is a country at a unique nexus point where numerous
Indo-European civilizations have interacted and often fought, and was an
important site of early historical activity.
Through the ages, the region has been home to various people, among them
the Aryan (Indo-Iranian) tribes, such as the Kambojas, Bactrians,
Persians, Pashtuns, etc.
It also has been conquered by a host of people, including the Median and
Persian Empires, Alexander the Great, Kushans, Hepthalites [White Huns],
Arabs, Turks, and Mongols. In recent times, invasions from the British,
Soviets, and most recently by the United States and their allies have
taken place.
On the other hand, native entities have invaded surrounding regions in
Iranian plateau and Indian subcontinent to form empires of their own.
Politics in Afghanistan has historically consisted of power struggles,
bloody coups and unstable transfers of power. With the exception of a
military junta, the country has been governed by nearly every system of
government over the past century, including a monarchy, republic,
theocracy and communist state.
The constitution ratified by the 2003 Loya jirga restructured the
government as an Islamic republic consisting of three branches,
(executive, legislature and judiciary).
Afghanistan is currently led by President Hamid Karzai, who was elected
in October 2004. The current parliament was elected in 2005. Among the
elected officials were former mujahadeen, Taliban members, communists,
reformists, and Islamic fundamentalists. 28% of the delegates elected
were women, 3 points more than the 25% minimum guaranteed under the
constitution.
This made Afghanistan , long known under the Taliban for its oppression
of women, one of the leading countries in terms of female
representation. Construction for a new Parliament building began on
August 29, 2005 .
Afghanistan is administratively divided into thirty-four (34) provinces
(welayats), and for each province there is a capital. Each province is
then divided into many provincial districts, and each district normally
covers a city or several townships.
Afghanistan is a member of the South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation (SAARC), Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) and the
Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). It is an impoverished
country, one of the world’s poorest and least developed.
Two-thirds of the population lives on fewer than 2 US dollars a day.
Its economy has suffered greatly from the 1979 Soviet invasion and
subsequent conflicts, while severe drought added to the nation’s
difficulties in 1998-2001. The economically active population in 2002
was about 11 million (out of a total of an estimated 29 million).
As of 2005, the official unemployment rate is at 40%.The number of
non-skilled young people is estimated at 3 million, which is likely to
increase by some 300,000 per annum.
The nation’s economy began to improve since 2002 due to the infusion of
multi-billion US dollars in international assistance and investments, as
well as remittances from expats. It is also due to dramatic improvements
in agricultural production and the end of a four-year drought in most of
the country.
*********************************
Capital (and largest city) - Kabul
Official languages - Dari (Persian) and Pashto
Afghan Government - Islamic Presidential Republic
First Afghan state - October, 1747
Independence from the United Kingdom - August 19, 1919
Population 2007 estimate - 31,889,923
************************************
President Hamid Karzai
President
Hamid Karzai
Born on 24th A December 1957 Hamid Karzai is the current President of
Afghanistan, since December 7, 2004. He became a prominent political
figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001.
From December 2001, Hamid Karzai had been the Chairman of the
Transitional Administration followed by the Interim President from 2002
until he won the 2004 Presidential election of Afghanistan. Karzai is
known for his trademark Karakul hat.
Karzai, an ethnic Pashtun of the Popalzai clan of the Durrani tribe, was
born in Kandahar, Afghanistan. He comes from a family that were strong
supporters of the former king, Zahir Shah.
He has six brothers and one sister. Karzai is well-versed in several
languages, including Pashto, Persian, Urdu, Hindi, English and
French.[5] >From 1979 to 1983, Karzai took a postgraduate course in
political science at Himachal Pradesh University in Shimla, Himachal
Pradesh, India.
He then returned to work as a fund-raiser by supporting anti-Soviet
Mujahideen in Afghanistan during the Soviet intervention for the rest of
the 1980s. After the fall of Najibullah’s Soviet-backed government in
1992, he served as Deputy Foreign Minister in the government of
Burhanuddin Rabbani.
Karzai was a member of the Mujahideen and took active part in driving
the Soviets out of Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion in the 1980s.
When the Taliban emerged in the 1990s, Karzai was at first one of their
supporters but later he broke with them and refused to serve as their UN
ambassador.
Karzai was a candidate in the October 9, 2004 presidential election. He
won 21 of the 34 provinces, defeating his 22 opponents and became the
first democratically elected leader of Afghanistan .
As incumbent President Karzai held high name recognition among voters,
and was admired by his supporters for his steady leadership during an
uncertain post-war period. Karzai was officially sworn in as President
of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan on December 7, 2004 at a formal
ceremony in Kabul . Many interpreted the ceremony as a symbolically
important “new start” for the war-torn nation.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Pakistan displays some of Asia’s most magnificent landscapes as it
stretches from the Arabian Sea, its southern border, to some of the
world’s most spectacular mountain ranges in the north. Pakistan is also
home to sites that date back to world’s earliest settlements rivalling
those of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.
Located in South Asia, Pakistan shares an eastern border with India and
a north-eastern border with China. Iran makes up the country’s
south-west border, and Afghanistan runs along its western and northern
edge.
The Arabian Sea is Pakistan’s southern boundary with 1,064 km of
coastline. The country has a total area of 796,095 sq km and is nearly
four times the size of the United Kingdom. From Gwadar Bay in its
south-eastern corner, the country extends more than 1,800 km to the
Khunjerab Pass on China’s border.
Pakistan emerged on the world map on August 14,1947 . It has its roots
into the remote past. Its establishment was the culmination of the
struggle by Muslims of the South-Asian subcontinent for a separate
homeland of their own and its foundation was laid when Muhammad bin
Qasim subdued Sindh in 711 A.D. as a reprisal against sea pirates that
had taken refuge in Raja Dahir’s kingdom.
The advent of Islam further strengthened the historical individuality in
the areas now constituting Pakistan and further beyond its boundaries.
In or about 1500 B.C., the Aryans descended upon the Punjab and settled
in the Sapta Sindhu, which signifies the Indus plain.
They developed a pastoral society that grew into the Rigvedic
Civilization. The discovery of the Gandhara grave culture in Dir and
Swat will go a long way in throwing light on the period of Pakistan ‘s
cultural history between the end of the Indus Culture in 1500 B.C. and
the beginning of the historic period under the Achaemenians in the sixth
century B.C.
The Gandhara grave culture has opened up two periods in the cultural
heritage of Pakistan: one of the Bronze Age and the other of the Iron
Age. It is so named because it presents a peculiar pattern of living in
hilly zones of the Gandhara region as evidenced in the graves.
The first followers of prophet Muhammad to set foot on the soil of the
South-Asian subcontinent, were traders from the coast land of Arabia and
the Persian Gulf , soon after the dawn of Islam in the early seventh
century A.D. The first permanent Muslim foothold in the subcontinent was
achieved with Muhammad bin Qasim’s conquest of Sindh in 711 A.D.
It was in the early thirteenth century that the foundations of the
Muslim rule in India were laid with extended boundaries and Delhi as the
capital. The impact of Islam on the South-Asian subcontinent was deep
and far-reaching.
A new language, Urdu, derived mainly from Arabic and Persian vocabulary
and adopting indigenous words and idioms, came to be spoken and written
by the Muslims and it gained currency among the rest of the Indian
population.
Apart from religion, Urdu also enabled the Muslim community during the
period of its ascendancy to preserve its separate identity in the
subcontinent.
British Expansionism and Muslim Resistance Meanwhile, starting with the
East India Company, the British had emerged as the dominant force in
South Asia.
Their rise to power was gradual extending over a period of nearly one
hundred years. They replaced the Shariah by what they termed as the
Anglo-Muhammadan law whereas Urdu was replaced by English as the
official language.
The uprising of 1857, termed as the Indian Mutiny by the British and the
War of Independence by the Muslims, was a desperate attempt to reverse
the adverse course of events.
The 1930s witnessed awareness among the Muslims of their separate
identity and their anxiety to preserve it within separate territorial
boundaries. During 1937-39, several Muslim leaders and thinkers,
inspired by Allama Iqbal’s ideas, presented elaborate schemes for
partitioning the subcontinent according to two-nation theory.
The Pakistan demand became popular during the Second World War. Every
section of the Muslim community - men, women, students, Ulema and
businessmen - were organized under the banner of the All-India Muslim
League. In October 1946, an Interim Government was formed.
The Muslim League sent its representative under the leadership of its
General Secretary, Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan, with the aim to fight for the
party objective from within the Interim Government. After a short time,
the situation inside the Interim Government and outside convinced the
Congress leadership to accept Pakistan as the only solution of the
communal problem.
The British Government, after its last attempt to save the Cabinet
Mission Plan in December 1946, also moved towards a scheme for the
partition of India . The last British Viceroy, Lord Louis Mountbatten,
came with a clear mandate to draft a plan for the transfer of power.
After holding talks with political leaders and parties, he prepared a
Partition Plan for the transfer of power, which, after approval of the
British Government, was announced on June 3,1947 . As a result, on
August 14,1947 , the new state of Pakistan came into existence.
Pakistan is a land of many splendours. The scenery changes northward
from coastal beaches, lagoons and mangrove swamps in the south to sandy
deserts, desolate plateaus, fertile plains, dissected upland in the
middle and high mountains with beautiful valleys, snow-covered peaks and
eternal glaciers in the north.A
The variety of landscape divides Pakistan into six major regions A the
North High Mountainous Region A the Western Low Mountainous Region A the
Baluchistan Plateau, the Potohar Uplands, the Punjab and the Sindh Plains.
Pakistan is divided into four provinces viz., North West Frontier
Province (NWFP), Punjab , Sindh and Baluchistan. The tribal belt
adjoining NWFP is managed by the Federal Government and is named FATA
i.e., Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas have their own respective political and
administrative machinery, yet certain of their subjects are taken care
of by the Federal Government through the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and
Northern Areas.
Currency Pak. Rupee. Imports Industrial equipment, chemicals, vehicles,
steel, iron ore,A petroleum, edible oil, pulses, tea.
Exports Cotton, textile goods, rice, leather items carpets, sports
goods, handicrafts, fish and fish prep. and fruit Languages Urdu
(National) and English (Official)
Literacy rate 53%
Parliament consists of two Houses i.e., the Senate (Upper House) and the
National Assembly (Lower House). The Senate is a permanent legislative
body and symbolises a process of continuity in the national affairs. It
consists of 100 members.
The four Provincial Assemblies, Federally Administered Tribal Areas and
Federal Capital form its electoral college. The National Assembly has a
total membership of 342 elected through adult suffrage (272 general
seats, 60 women seats and 10 non-Muslim seats).
******************************************
Official Name - Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Father of the Nation - Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah (1876-1948)
Head of the State - Pervez Musharraf, President
Prime Minister - Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani,
Capital - Islamabad
Area Total - 796,095 Sq. km.A
Population - 165 million (estimated)- 132 million (1998 census)
******************************************
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani
Prime Minister
Yousaf Raza Gilani
Syed Makhdoom Yousaf Raza Gillani is the twenty-sixth and current Prime
Minister of Pakistan. He was a former Speaker of the National Assembly
of Pakistan (1993-1997) and former Federal Minister (1985-1986).
Born on 9th June 1952 in Karachi, Prime Minister Gilani hails from an
influential A political family in Multan. His political journey began
during General Zia-ul-Haq’s martial law in 1978. He joined the Central
Working Committee of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML).
He was also a cabinet member in the three-year government of Prime
Minister Muhammad Khan Junejo, and served as Minister of Housing and
Works from April 1985 to January 1986 and as Railways Minister from
January 1986 to December 1986.
After a short stint with the Muslim League, Gilani joined the Pakistan
Peoples Party (PPP) in 1988. In the Benazir Bhutto government of
1988-1990, he was Minister of Tourism from March 1989 to January 1990
and Minister of Housing and Works from January 1990 to August 1990. In
the Bhutto government of 1993-1996, he was Speaker of the National
Assembly of Pakistan until February 1997.
He has been elected various times as the Member of National Assembly
from Multan. In the 2008 general election, he beat Pakistan Muslim
League (Q) (PML-Q) leader Sikandar Hayat Bosan.
Produced by Lake House Copyright © 2008 The Associated Newspapers of
Ceylon Ltd.
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The further you go into the past the lesser your chances of meeting the
word poverty. This may come as a surprise to you, but that’s because you
and I have been taught to look at the past as a dark, gloomy, dismal and
altogether a primitive era compared to the state of enlightenment we are
living in now.
When we see a thatched roof, mud walls and cow dung floors, what comes
to our minds is ‘poverty’; but as an adequate source of shelter only a
foreigner, surprisingly, can see its advantages.
Let us see what the foreigner says: “Such a house, since the rain cannot
beat very much against the walls, can stand unharmed for a long time.
The floor is also made of beaten clay, and on their feast days they take
fresh cow dung, mix it with water into a thin paste, and smear with
their hands both floor and walls quite flat with it.
Although while being put on it smells badly, yet after a few days, when
it is dry, this changes to a pleasant odour; and the ants, which are a
great plague in this land, avoid it,” written by Heydt, a German who
served the Dutch in the 17 hundreds, living in the Maritime Provinces
for three years.
Another foreigner, a British Civil Servant, A.B.Denham, who had even a
closer look at our people and country makes the following reflections on
poverty. He was here at the turn of the 19th century and what provoked
him to make his reflections on poverty was “the enormous quantities of
goods which are poured by the West into the Eastern store “ and “the
extraordinarily few wants of the Eastern people.” He says that comforts
among the people of the East have to be created.
“The villager never possessed any.” All he had was his mud built house
and the clothing and the household goods, which could be stuffed into a
small bag to flee unencumbered into the jungle at a pinch.
Comfort
“Such conditions in the East,” Denham goes on, “do not indicate a state
of poverty, but a complete lack of comfort, the absence of which was not
felt...The chroniclers of the reigns of Eastern monarchs do not concern
themselves with the standard of comfort among the subject people for the
very good reason that no historian of those days would have understood
what was meant by such an expression, or if he had would have scoffed at
the idea.”
So, having introduced comfort to a people who had nothing to do with it,
we have today, thanks to the imperialists who introduced it, not for the
welfare of the people but for their own profits, and in consequence we
are impoverished today.
Poverty has been here with us for a while and it may be here for some
more time because it is a useful slogan at election times to mislead
people by promising to ‘eradicate poverty.’
The United Nations, not to thwart the aspirations of our politicians as
such but to join them, is planning to introduce a series of ‘quick win’
proposals under their Millennium Plan to eradicate poverty. They have
set the target year for eradication as 2015. The proposals don’t seem to
look as being any too startling because all their plans seem to be only
a going back to the days when things went on smoothly before the
‘comfort’ program stepped in.
By the way, the Millennium poverty eradication ‘quick win’ plan needs
$40-60 billion for a year. Compared to what the US is reported to be
spending on its armaments contracts amounting to $230 billion a year,
the poverty eradication money is just a pittance. One way the UN has
proposed to help poverty eradication is to introduce what we call free
education and they call ‘elimination of school fees.’
This is not a new scheme at all, but one that they may even have
borrowed from our country where education right along our history has
always been free, and I don’t mean the days of the Kannangara Plan, but
our ancient pirivena system of studies where the monks acted like talent
scouts to spot the brighter students among the young.
And neither was education compulsory then. Being a free people we only
created opportunities for all those interested in pursuing either
linguistic studies or the arts and crafts and sciences in which Sri
Lanka has done pretty well. A case in point is the creation of some of
the finest water management engineers the world has seen. And all this
without the help of any ‘quick win’ Millennium Plan.
Eradicate poverty
Supporting breast-feeding is another of the plans that are thought of as
being able to eradicate poverty. This country never had anything except
breast-feeding in all its history. If a mother ran out of milk, which
was exceptional, then they looked around for a foster mother to help
out. Such co-operative efforts went into disuse with the arrival of the
business fraternity from the West.
The business fraternity took a lot of trouble to persuade the medical
fraternity to advice mothers to change over to the bottle.
And along with the ‘comfort’ plan introduced to our country by the
imperialists it didn’t take very long to persuade mothers to change over
to the bottle. “Stuff and nonsense” says the Millennium Plan now, and
they are determined to go ahead to persuade mothers to throw out the
bottle and get back to the breast.
User fees for basic health care is a term that is being used to say that
in developing countries, which is the polite form of telling us that we
are poor countries, who are now paying for obtaining medical help to
keep ourselves alive, must be discouraged. There was a time in very
recent history when medicine was freely given in all state hospitals in
this country.
Our then international money-lenders frowned on us for this and screwed
our then Finance Minister, Dr N.M.Perera, to charge twenty five cents
per patient. Now all this is forgotten - the Millennium Plan will now
take the health costs under its wing. We had no problems, however, under
our own kings when medical treatment was freely given with the King
himself acting the physician.
Millennium Plan
Community health training in rural areas, another one of those ‘quick
win’ plans to eradicate poverty, is to be introduced under the
Millennium Plan. But this is something that we always had, with each
village having its own ayurvedic physician, who advised patients to look
after themselves with inguru-kothhamlli treatment as a preliminary
before visiting him, and the payment in any case was a gift of a sheaf
of betel leaves.
There is also evidence that our women could also look after themselves
quite well without any medical assistance.
“The Sinhala women,” says Heydt who is mentioned above,” are not
accustomed to have midwives, as do ours, to assist at births or give a
helpful hand; but they take to them only the women of their neighbours,
who serve as midwives.
They rarely die in childbirth, and such a death appears strange to them,
from which one can deduce the ease of their bringing-forth.”
Then there is going to be instruction for women on women’s rights as
part of the poverty eradication campaign. How the two are related is
somewhat difficult to conceive.
There was a time, however, in the history of our country when the
Sinhala law prevailed from north to south and from east to west and this
law was particularly generous to our women. Marriage and divorce was a
very simple affair. And when it came to divorce, “They divorce for a
small cause, and it is no disgrace among them... When they cannot live
with content together, they separate themselves, and the man seeks
another wife and the wife another husband.”
As for any conditions for separation there are none, for the law
entitles her to take with her, “the dowry that she brought, perhaps a
few heads of cattle, some clothes, and now and then, if she is of higher
rank, some slaves; and goes to her parents or nearest relatives or other
friends, until she sees another opportunity better to her liking than
the first.”
So, as we can see, the Millennium Plan has nothing new to offer us
except to restore now the ‘balance of power’ destroyed by our
puritanical Victorians from England.
Tree planting
And one more item from a list of about 14. The Millennium Plan
recommends tree planting as a measure to eradicate poverty. We had
prophets around 2000 years ago who asked us not only to care for trees
but also for wild animals and in fact the entire environment as the
Arahat Mahinda did when he surprised King Devanampiya Tissa while he was
hunting animals, in the following words: “O great King, the birds of the
air and the beasts have as equal a right to live and move about in any
part of the land as thou. The land belongs to the people and all living
beings; thou art only the guardian of it.”
And this has its echo in a modern prophet who says, “The teaching of the
Buddha... enjoins a reverent and non-violent attitude not only to all
sentient beings but also, with great emphasis, to trees.
Every follower of the Buddha ought to plant a tree every few years and
look after it until it is safely established, and the Buddhist economist
can demonstrate without difficulty that the universal observation of
this rule would result in a high rate of genuine economic development
independent of any foreign aid.”
- E.F. Schumaker
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Produced by Lake House Copyright © 2006 The Associated Newspapers of
Ceylon Ltd. |
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Sri Lanka's former Ambassador to the United States of America Bernard
Goonatilake, succeeds H. M. G. S. Pallihakkara as the new Chairman of
the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management (SLITHM).
Minister of Tourism, Milinda Moragoda has made this appointment with
effect from August 01, 2008.
Goonatilake is a senior diplomat and former Secretary to the Ministry
for Foreign Affairs.
He has already had a distinguished career as a public servant, serving
as Ambassador to the People's Republic of China, and to the United
Nations in Geneva amongst other significant posts.
More recently he has been Acting Ambassador to the United Nations in New
York which followed on from his appointment as the first Secretary
General to the Secretariat for the Coordination of the Peace Process
(SCOPP).
Goonatilake comes in as the Chairman to SLITHM as H. M. G. S.
Pallihakkara takes up a new appointment as the Ambassador, Permanent
Representative for Sri Lanka to the United Nations in New York. Tourism
Minister, Milinda Moragoda appointed Pallihakkara as the firstever
Chairman of the newly created Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel
Management (SLITHM).
This followed the promulgation of the Tourism Act, No. 35 of 2005 which
came into force last year. Pallihakkara has steered the SLITHM through
its transition with great leadership and determination.
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Produced by Lake House Copyright © 2006 The Associated Newspapers of
Ceylon Ltd. |
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| 120 sq.ft modern digital shop / Internet cafe with lease line in Colombo Fort available for transfer for very reasonable terms and facilities. Please call on 0723 446 779 for details/inspection/offer. |
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| Beruwela 7200 sq. ft bungalow on 40p land with swimming pool and view of the Indian Ocean from bed rooms. fully furnished. USD 320,000 only. |
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The Government is to restrict permission for expatriate workers in Sri Lanka by directing Government Agents to first ascertain whether locally qualified personnel are available. It is only thereafter that foreign personnel assigned by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) will be given work permits to serve, in terms of new guidelines.
These guidelines were issued by the Government on Wednesday. In terms of these, only exceptions to this rule will be the positions of a head or deputy of the NGOs concerned. A series of restrictions have also been imposed.
Hereafter foreigners will be granted residence visas only for a maximum of three years to work in Sri Lanka, under the new guidelines. At present, such visas are renewable annually on the recommendations of the organisation concerned.
The Ministry of Internal Administration has sent a circular regarding the new rules to all ministries, Provincial Chief Secretaries, Government Agents/District Secretaries, heads of departments and Sri Lanka’s diplomatic missions abroad.
Under the new rules, foreigners will be required to submit a security clearance report from the security authorities of their respective countries and they will be forbidden from engaging in any political or unlawful activity during their stay in Sri Lanka.
In the circular, the Ministry said that while acknowledging the contribution made by NGOs or INGOs operating in Sri Lanka towards reconstruction and rehabilitation activities during the disaster periods, it was necessary to streamline procedures for granting of visas to such expatriates working for these organizations.
The Controller-General of Immigration and Emigration may carry out any investigation including security concerns in consultation with the Ministry of Defence or intelligence agencies before granting entry or residence visas. When the applicant gets a clearance certificate or work permit issued by the Ministry of Defence, visas will be granted for the validity period of the certificate.
In cases where it has been found that the expatriates or dependents have engaged in any unlawful or political activity during the stay in Sri Lanka, the Immigration and Emigration Controller General will take immediate action to cancel the visa of such expatriate and deport him or her with immediate effect.
According to the circular, the Attorney General will also initiate legal action with the assistance of Police against an expatriate who violates the law before any decision is taken by the Controller to deport the expatriate.
For organizations that are working in the provinces, the Government Agent, the District Secretary or Divisional Secretaries should make preliminary recommendations for visa requests of NGOs functioning in their areas. They have been asked to ensure that the NGO requesting a visa for an expatriate, has initially attempted to recruit locally and has been unable to find a suitable person locally due to unavailability of required manpower/expertise in the country.
This will be applicable to posts other than the posts of Chief and Deputy Chief of the organization. The concept here is that NGOs should recruit locally as far as possible and should only find expertise for the posts which cannot be filled locally due to unavailability of suitable candidates, the circular points out.
Foreign nationals who arrive on entry or prior visas should apply for residence visas within one month upon arrival.
The ministry has told all parties concerned to ensure strict compliance with these rules. |
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Chamber of Construction Industry which represents all stakeholders of the domestic construction industry drawn from both public and private sectors ranging from large multinational corporations to micro enterprises, satisfied a long felt need of the industry by publishing the first ever construction industry catalogue. This was another initiative launched by the Chamber towards enhancing the capacity and competitiveness of the domestic construction industry. The construction industry trade catalogue has become a technical reference document for the industry professional. It reflects the capacity of the domestic construction industry to foreign investors, multidisciplinary consultants, contractors, multilateral and bilateral donors among other stakeholders. It provides vendors of construction related goods and services with a most cost effective channel of reaching their targeted clients and customers.
The 2008 edition of this catalogue will have a free of charge circulation of 5000 copies that will be received by stakeholders of the domestic construction industry, diplomatic, consular and other representatives in Sri Lanka, multilateral banks and donor agencies, international non-governmental agencies and Sri Lankan missions abroad among others.
The 2008 version is more comprehensive and is expected to be encyclopedic in terms of listing products and services across the total spectrum of the market.
In view of the Chambers’ role as a focal point for promotion of export of construction related professional services, contracting capacities and other construction inputs, Chamber will facilitate circulation of this publication to targeted export markets in the Gulf region with special reference to the State of Qatar, Sultanate of Oman, United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Bahrain.
The catalogues’ maiden publication in the year 2006 has attracted commendations from both statutory authorities and the market as being on par with similar international publications of this nature. Construction Industry Trade Catalogue 2008 is expected to be released in November 2008. |
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| Four storey commercial building in Pita Kotte with roof top structure available on rent. Fourth floor is 3 Bed room apartment.
Parking facility available.
Very convenient location for any project office, BPO, NGO or any other commercial office.
Rent expected Rs.150,000 but negotiable |
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| Fully furnished House with 3 Bed rooms/ attached bathrooms. Two rooms with split type aircon, 3 phase electricity, 2500 sq.ft.
Common Facility
Gym, Swimming Pool, Jogging track, tennis court, 24 hr security service etc
Expat only or under a reputed company.
USD 700 per month |
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| Director HR Residencies Ananda Jayasekere, Chairman Benison International Dr. Sunil De Silva, Managing Director Sanken Lanka, Ranjith Gunetilleke, General Manager Nawaloka Construction Kalana Alwis and Marketing Manager City Developers Prasad Croos at the press briefing.
Leading players in the construction industry and property developers urge the public to invest in real estate as now is the exact time to do it.
“There is a misconception amongst the public that real estate prices will come down. On the contrary they are going to escalate by over a 100% due to price increases in material, labour, transport, overheads, service connections, as well as the new tax levied by the Government where 5% of the total construction cost has to be paid to the UDA even before construction starts” Managing Director Sanken Lanka, Ranjith Gunatilleke said at a joint press briefing held at the Nawaloka Auditorium on Tuesday.
“Real estate has always been a good investment as currency rates keep fluctuating and urged the public to invest their monies in property development.
“Real estate has been proven to be one of the best investments in this country for over two decades and land prices are known to escalate no matter what” Gunatilleke said.
He said for the past 18 months they had not had a single new Apartment construction project whereas previously they would tender on an average for at least 2 -3 new projects every month.
“Recently however some developers have been unable to meet their payments to contractors as they are unable to sell their apartments, while some developers have been forced to stop construction mid way. Buyers are expecting real estate prices to come down, this is not going to happen, they will only escalate,” he said.
Gunatilleke stated that the economic situation in the country, the worsening security situation which makes people think twice before investing in apartments both as a second home or city home as well as an investment, the shortage of cement, the absence of skilled labour and the escalating price of raw materials as reasons for this situation.
“The enforcement of a 5% tax of the total construction cost which came into effect about one and a half years ago has virtually put a halt on any future construction and this coupled with the escalating price of raw materials has had a negative effect on the construction industry as well as for property developers”.
General Manager Nawaloka Construction, Kalana Alwis said today people spend a significant amount of time traveling, wasting both time and fuel.
It makes sense to have a second home in Colombo, particularly an apartment which could be locked up when not used.
“Not only is there the convenience factor but you also have an investment which appreciates almost daily”, Alwis said.
Chairman Benison International Dr Sunil de Silva said his development project, namely 189 Residencies on Baseline Road had seen an appreciation in land value of over 100%.
“In 2004 a perch was valued at Rs 1.2 million, whereas now the price is Rs 2.5 million for a perch. Steel which at that time cost US$ 400 per tonne is now US$ 950 a tonne, therefore as an investment there is no way you can lose as land and housing are appreciating rapidly”, de Silva said.
Produced by Lake House Copyright © 2006 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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