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KMC to
Earn Money from Garbage
The KMC has accepted a project proposal from the Mechanical
Engineer of the Council to initiate a project to convert to
compost fertilizer the solid waste that it collects from the
city. The current practice is to dispose of the solid waste
at Gohagoda in a landfill.
The proposal envisages converting about 9,000mt of solid waste
into 2,250mt of compost fertilizer every three moths. The project
planners claim that the total cost including the capital cost
for three months would be around Rs 7.0m and that at the rate
of Rs 5.00 per kg the sale of the compost would yield a gross
income of Rs11.0m. In addition the project will also help free
up the Gohagoda facility that is reaching saturation point,
the report notes.
The Council has approved the project and recommended that Dr.
Ben Basnayaka of the Agricultural Engineering Department of
the University of Peradeniya be consulted in its execution.
District Secretary Laments Absence of
Officials
The Kandy District Secretary (GA) Mr. Ghotabaya
Jayaratne says that the failure on the part of some senior officials
in the Kandy distinct administration to attend the monthly meetings
of the Kandy District Coordinating Committee is seriously undermining
the efficient administration of the district. In addition many
of the officials fail to present reports and documents that
they are expected to present to the District Committee he notes.
Mr. Jayaratne told the last meeting of the District Committee
that he would present a report on the issue and propose a suitable
course of action to rectify the situation.
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Credit Wins International Recognition in Silver Jubilee Year
| Commercial Credit
Company Chairperson Vagdevi Fernando received the ISO
9001:2000 certificate for quality management from the
representative of Bureau Veritas Mr T K Sahid Ossan at
a ceremony held recently at the company office in Kandy.
Only one other finance company in Sri Lanka has achieved
this international distinction for management. This certificate
is awarded only after a rigorous audit of the management
system that is conducted by independent auditors.
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Founded by the late
Mr Donald Fernando in 1982as a single office operation in
Kandy, today Commercial Credit has two branches at Hingurakgoda
and Anuradhapura respectively and five collection centres
one each in Kurunegala, Negombo, Piliyandala, Nuwara Eliya
and Avissawella. Two new Branches will be shortly established,
one in Colombo and the other in Ratnapura. The principle
lines of business of the company are accepting fixed deposits
and fixed savers' deposits and lending through leasing,
hire purchase and real estate.
The company has grown steadily in the past twenty five years
and had a depots base of Rs 445m at the end of fiscal 2006.
Its capital base stood at Rs 93m. It also made a record
annual profit of Rs 15m last year.
Recently Commercial Credit moved to its own new premises
at 106 Yatinuwara Veediya. The company has also introduced
an advanced computerized deposit and loan management system
to better serve its clients. Shortly it will also introduce
an accident insurance scheme for depositors.
The present Board of Directors are Mrs. Vagdevi Fernando,
Chairman Mr P S M Fernando CEO, Mr Gayan Fernando (Representing
Visara Capital Management), Mr G G Hemachandra, Mr Leslie
Pedris, Mr Kumara Semage, Dr Bandu Ranasinghe, and Mr Anuruddha
Warnakula (Representing Visara Capital Management).
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Asia
Foundation Workshop Will Help KMC-Business Relations Says Mayor
Kandy Mayor L B Aluvihare says that a most productive
and useful workshop on cooperation between the KMC and the Kandy business
community was held recently at the Kandalama Hotel, Dambulla. Sponsored
by The Asia Foundation the workshop brought together the Mayor and
the elected members of the council, the municipal commissioner and
senior staff, and about fifty representatives of the Kandy business
community. The workshop had reviewed KMC-Business Community relations
in five separate working groups and prepared a report for action.
The mayor is optimistic that the workshop findings and recommendations
will lead to better cooperation between the two parties.
A Remarkable Philanthropist Helps the Elderly Poor
Mr. Herman Steur (77) who comes from Holland (Netherlands)
and now lives at Wattarantene in Kandy is a remarkable human being
who helps more than 40,000 elderly destitute people in Sri Lanka.
His big wish is to implement a pension scheme for the elderly poor
people who have no children to take care of them. Mr. Steur who is
a millionaire anticipates to fulfill this wish before his death.
Herman Steur was born in 1930 in a village ten miles away from Amsterdam
in Holland. In 1940 during the 2nd World War when Germany invaded
Holland his family seafood business was ruined. He says that he was
forced to quit his education at the age of 14 and beg door-to-door
for milk and bread for his family. It was the first time that he had
experienced destitution and came to know the agony of life living
without food or medical care.
After the war young Herman restarted his father's old sea food business
(smoked eels) and became a millionaire within a short time. He was
married to his job which was his passion. Mr. Steur has never married.
His seafood business lured him to Sri Lanka in 1979. His intention
was to build a shrimps factory in the Free Trade Zone in Katunayake.
But due to electricity shortages he had to abandon the plan, he says.
But that trip decisively changed his life. He decided to make Sri
Lanka his permanent home and says that he is very happy that he made
that decision.
One evening a poor widow had visited him at his home in Uswetakeiyawa
asking for help. This incident made him decide to launch a program
to help the elderly poor and the Family Help Program Holland-Sri Lanka
(FHP) was born in 1980. A Catholic Priest from Uswetikeiyawa Father
Lucian Dep who was known to him was his and adviser and partner in
this venture.
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President D.B.Wijetunga presets
the Sri lanka Ramya Awarads to Mr. Herman Steur |
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Mr.Herman Steur Speaks to elderly women
at the welcome village |
FHP that has helped a large number of the poorest of
the poor celebrated its Silver Jubilee a couple of years ago. For
his services Herman Steur was awarded the Sri Lanka Ramya,
“Welcome Village” at Wilagedera, Gomawila near Negombo
is one of FHP's showpiece projects. The village has the infrastructure
and other facilities to ensure a comfortable living for a large number
of otherwise roofless elders. In addition FHP also helps other elderly
poor.
Mr. Herman's program has so far funded over 350 students from poor
families to complete their university education.
The Good and the Bad of the New Traffic Arrangements
I commute daily by car between Peradeniya and
Kandy. All praise to those who designed the new traffic plan that
especially has cleared the congestion on Gopallawa Mawatha and reduced
the driving time between Kandy hospital and Gatambe to about seven
minutes. But it has also created some new risks and problems that
should be addressed.
•Some drivers are now speeding on this
stretch of road at speeds in excess of 70kmph endangering pedestrians
(Solution: have a reasonable speed limit and fine violators; relocate
the pedestrian crossing signs about 50 meters ahead of the pedestrian
crossings so that motorist have time to slow down)
•Vehicles illegally overtake on the left
side risking accidents (solution: the traffic police must impose fines
on violators)
•The traffic congestion between Girls'
High School and the Police Station still remains. (Solution: use Gopallawa
Mawatha that is the wider of the two roads for the rush hour traffic:
morning hours to enter the town and afternoon hours to leave the town)
•Those who wish to go from the Railway Station
to the city now have to take a circuitous route via Suduhumpola. (Solution:
allow them at least light vehicles to make a left on the link road
that connects Bogambara and Gopallawa Mawatha)
•On Gopallawa Road it may be possible mark
three lanes. If that is possible it may also be possible to have two-way
traffic at all times with two lanes being used for the rush hour direction.
This is a common practice in many countries.)
•Carefully review every bus stop and pedestrian
crossing in Kandy and relocate those especially the ones that are
located on bends and junctions - that endanger pedestrians and also
slow down traffic (e.g. opposite Malwatta temple; opposite the YMBA;
and Opposite Heerassagala junction)
•Relocate the Monday/Friday Pola at Bogambara
in such a manner that it protects the livelihoods of the vendors and
helps the customers while also making it less of an obstruction to
traffic.
Dr. A Concerned Citizen
Kandy
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Full text from home page
Kandy District Returns Unspent Millions to
Treasury
A reliable source in the Kandy Secretariat
speaking to The Kandy News on condition of anonymity claimed
that at the end of fiscal 2006 the Kandy District returned to
the General Treasury Rs 32m out of Rs 64m that it received from
the central government for development spending in the district.
The District originally planned to spend
the Rs 64m on about 1,450 small scale development projects each
costing, on average about Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000. However, only
about 500 projects or one-third of the planned projects had
been completed by the end of September 2006. By that time about
100 projects were limited to paper agreements with no work at
all done on the ground. Our source also revealed that the divisional
secretariats (DSs) have become a major bottleneck to development
spending. In this particular case by November 15th last year
twenty DSs had spent only Rs 16m (37%) out of the Rs 43m that
had been allocated to them.
The return of unspent money to the treasury
is a financial requirement of the government.
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