Government will call for international tenders to explore oil

The Government will call for international tenders to explore oil resources along Sri Lanka’s sea belt within the next three months.

Petroleum and Petroleum Resources Development Minister A.H.M. Fowzie told that tenders for the exploration will be called within the next two to three months after the preliminary work is completed.

According to the Ministry, a company based in the United Kingdom has been entrusted with the task of assisting the Government in carrying out the preparatory work of the tender procedure in line with international standards.

"The company is in the process formulating the modalities of the tender procedure including production sharing and the data package. We hope to call tenders from reputed international firms once the preliminary work is concluded," Ministry Secretary A.P.A. Gunasekere said.

Minister Fowzie said that the tender procedure was launched after several rounds of discussions with groups and individuals interested in the exploration including political parties and other organisations.

"During the discussions, we submitted and explained to them the Government’s programme to explore the oil deposits. They expressed their satisfaction regarding the programme."

According to the Minister, Sri Lanka will be able to save over Rs. 200 billion in foreign exchange spent on importing oil once the oil deposits detected along the sea belt from Puttalam to Hambantota are exploited.

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Those helping LTTE are traitors: Army Chief

"Those who are helping the LTTE terrorists to bring bomb laden vehicles and explosives to the south were betraying the members of the Armed Forces who are sacrificing their life and limb to protect the country," Army Chief Lt. Gen Sarath Fonseka told The Island in an interview yesterday.

By Norman Palihawadan

He said the Police and the Armed Forces have the capability to seize bombs and explosives of the terrorists before they could cause carnage and destruction to public property in the south.

He said that the initiative taken by the Armed Forces and the sacrifices they had made has completely routed the LTTE forces in the Eastern Province and a small number of LTTE cadres are isolated in Thoppigala and they are no longer able to go on the offensive as the Armed Forces have surrounded them. "It is a matter of days before Thoppigala the last outpost of the LTTE in the east is captured," the Army Chief said.

During the past few weeks more than four tons of explosives were recovered by the police and the Navy from the two lorries and a 30 kilgram claymore bomb brought to Colombo from the North was detected by the police at Obeysekera Town Rajagiriya.

The Army Chief said more explosives are being detected now than ever before. "The forces and the police were more alert and the public are also cooperating with the forces and police," he said.

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