Moves to ease shortage of coins

Money is important to all human beings, and it comes as coins and notes. As announced by the government recently, there is a severe shortage of coins in Sri Lanka at present.

Coins are not so much in circulation now as most transactions are carried out with notes and also as plastic money (credit cards etc.) Coins worth Rs. 5.3 billion are in circulation in the island, while around Rs. 220 million worth of coins are believed to be stored in savings.

According to the Central Bank, coins worth millions of rupees are deposited in the tills and collection boxes of temples and other religious places. It would be costly to replace them with new coins.

You may have seen the government announcements carried in the media, calling the public to hand over their coins. As schoolchildren, you too can be part of this drive. You must have a lot of coins stored in tills which had been gifted to you by elders. The Ministry of Finance has now devised a special bonus scheme to encourage schoolchildren to break their tills and bring the coins in them back into circulation.

Those who return their collected coins will be presented with stationery items including exercise books, pens, rulers and school bags worth 20 per cent of the value of the coins handed over. They could even opt to swap the coins for currency notes and get 20 per cent more than the value of the coins.

New irrigation projects

Many irrigation projects are under way in the country and one of them is the rehabilitation of the giant Rajangana reservoir and the Angamuwa tank. The projects to restore and rehabilitate these waterways in the district of Anuradhapura will be inaugurated in the middle of this month.

The project envisages the full renovation of the reservoir's main channel, headwork branch and other channels. The work will be carried out by the Irrigation Department, while the task of renovating small-scale channels will be offered to 38 farmer societies in the area on a contract basis.

Funds worth Rs. 850 million, needed for the completion of this work, will be provided by the Government of Japan through its Pro-poor Economic Advancement and Community Empowerment Project.

Solution for garbage, drainage problems

Garbage and the lack of proper drainage systems are very serious problems hampering the city of Colombo. As one solution for this problem, a project has been launched to reconstruct and develop garbage and drainage systems in the Colombo south area.

The funds for the project, amounting to 10.9 million euros, will be provided under the relief loan scheme of the Austrian Government. The project includes establishing a new tank at Wellawatte, and developing and rehabilitating the drains along Galle Road, Havelock Road, Duplication Road and Beach Road.

The projects, to be conducted under the supervision of the National Water Supply and Drainage Board, is expected to be completed within two and a half years.

Assistance for tsunami-affected

An NGO called Dream of the Earth, Japan recently provided school equipment, ready-made garments and other equipment to tsunami-affected schoolchildren of Anura Vidyalaya, Matara. Each child received a gift parcel to the value of Rs. 2,000.

Here, a donor, a well-known philanthropist from Japan, is handing over the parcels to the students.

CSDP programmes

The Children Skills Development Programme (CSDP) has devised a series of programmes with the objectives of making children lose their shyness, be competitive, win over obstacles, work in togetherness, take independent decisions, take leadership, be creative and discover hidden talents.

The programmes, comprising practical aspects designed with psychology and entertainment in mind, will be conducted for children under 18 years of age. The activities will include sports, stage plays, dancing, painting and singing. Children taking part in these programmes may get the opportunity of participating in television dramas and programmes.

Those interested can write to: Children Skills Development Programme, No. 51, Sri Dharmarama Road, Dematagoda, Colombo 9 or call: 0112-672718, 0112-689536 or 011-5751593.

Developing Hambantota coastal belt

A new plan to develop the coastal belt of Hambantota district has now been prepared.

It will revise the development of the three existing zonal plans designed by the Hambantota District Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project.

The changes to the plan have to be implemented as most of the habitats along the Hambantota coastal belt were destroyed in the 2004 tsunami.

The Coast Conservation Department initiated 19 studies and these studies were summarised into the Coastal Plan 2000 in the document 'Resource Management Strategy for Sri Lanka Coastal Region'.

The coastal region makes up 24 per cent of the land area of Sri Lanka, but regional economic activities account for 40 per cent of the GDP. The different users and purposes have led to may conflicts among users, and so it has become necessary to devise strategies that will minimise these conflicts.

Cultural centre at Pannala

A cultural centre was recently opened in the Pannala Divisional Secretary's area at Mellawalana. It was established in a school that had been closed for some time due to the lack of children.

Aesthetic subjects such as Kandyan, Low Country and Sabaragamuwa dancing, oriental music and painting will be taught free at this centre. English and computer science are two other subjects that are earmarked to be taught to the students here.

The cultural centre is expected to help preserve and conserve Sri Lanka's national identity. It's hoped that this centre would be an asset to the area.