02.    Construction of luxury tourist camps adjacent to Yala National park (Document No – 11)

A land of 07 acres belonged to Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority in Palatupana area has been allocated on the above purpose to the Wild Coast Lodge (PVT) Ltd in 2012. The proposal made by Hon. John Amaratunge, Minister of Tourism Development and Christian Religious Affairs, to provide an additional land of 155 perches on 50 year lease basis to the said company to continue the project and to obtain the approval of the Department of Coast Conservation and Coastal Resources Management and the recommendations of Department of Wildlife Conservation in continuing with construction works, was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.

03.    Handing over the Matale Railway stores to Matale Municipal Council on lease basis to build a Public Market (Document No – 12)

The proposal made by Hon. Nimal Siripala de Silva, Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation, to hand over the Matale Railway stores to Matale Municipal Council on lease basis to build a Public Market for a period of 5 years, was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.

04.    Implementation of E-Friends II Revolving Fund (Document No – 16)

The proposal made by Hon. Rishad Bathiudeen, Minister of Industry and Commerce, to implement the above fund using balance funds which were credited to the revolving fund under the 'E-Friends Project – II Loan Scheme' implemented from 2004 to 2010 under the assistance of JICA and Rs. 1300 million allocated by the General Treasury for 2017 in this regard, and to prepare a method to recognize eligible beneficiaries to assure that loans are granted to such beneficiaries to achieve the objectives of this project, was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.

05.    Implementation of the Sustainable Fisheries Development project in Northern Province (Document No – 20)

It has become a priority need to improve fisheries infrastructure in Northern Province which was affected by conflicts for a long period and accordingly, the proposal made by Hon. Mahinda Amaraweera, Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development, to implement the above project under the assistance of Asian Development Bank, was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.

06.    Importation of qualitative seeds to improve the productivity of domestic big onion production (Document No – 21)

About 65%-70% of country's onion requirement is imported annually and the National Food Production Programme (2016-2018) has given priority to increase onion production. The annual onion seed requirement is about 40,000 kg but only half of them are produced in Sri Lanka. The rest is imported by private importers and there have been issues reported regarding their quality. Hence, the proposal made by Hon. Duminda Dissanayake, Minister of Agriculture, to import 6,200 kg of qualitative onion seeds from National Horticultural Research and Development Foundation in India, was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.

07.    Award of land ownership and suitable houses to beneficiaries of Hautiville Housing Project under the concept of creating new villages (Document No – 27)

The above project has been implemented in Nuwara Eliya District for providing a better living standard for estate communities and the proposal made by Hon. U. Palani Thigambaram, Minister of Hill Country New Villages, Infrastructure and Community Development, to issue title certificates for 71 beneficiaries of the project, was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.

08.    Integrated Road investment programme phase - 2 (Document No – 34)

The ADB has agreed to provide funds to improve about 4000 km of roads in North, Eastern, Uva and Western Provinces. Accordingly, the proposal made by Hon. Lakshman Kiriella, Minister of Higher Education and Highways, to proceed with the above project, was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.

09.    Award of two contract packages for civil works under the landslide Disaster protection project of national road network (Document No – 35)

Above project is to be implemented under the funds provided by JICA and the proposal made by Hon. Lakshman Kiriella, Minister of Higher Education and Highways, to award the contracts for civil works related to activities in 16 places in Central, Uva and Sabaragamuwa Provinces under contract packages 01 and 02 of the above project as recommended by the Standing Cabinet Appointed Procurement Committee, was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.

10.    Relocation of Pettah manning Market in Peliyagoda area – Contrition of pile foundation (Document No – 37)

The development of land for the relocation has been finalized and the proposal made by Hon. Patali Champika Ranawaka, Minister of Megapolis and Western Development, to award the contract for the construction of Piling Foundation as its next step as per the recommendations made by the Standing Cabinet Appointed Procurement Committee, was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.

11.    Sale of paddy stocks of the Paddy Marketing board to address the rice deficit in the market (Document No – 40)

The cabinet has noted that the Ministry of Rural Economic Affairs has taken steps to issue 90,958 MT of paddy of the Paddy Marketing Board in district level to private paddy mill owners and Lanka Sathosa to be processed into rice. It further considered that though Lanka Sathosa has already processed the paddy and a kilogram of rice is being traded through Sathosa outlets at Rs. 76/-, private mill owners have still not issued them to the market. The Cabinet has decided to appoint a Cabinet Subcommittee to issue the rest stocks in a suitable method and to take action against mill owners who have omitted the issuing of rice stocks to the market.

The Cabinet of Ministers also considered that Government of Indonesia will donate 10,000 MT of rice to Sri Lanka as to a request made by H.E. the President and it will arrive in Sri Lanka soon. It also paid attention to the need of importing rice from neighbouring countries such as Indonesia, Vietnam unless the price of rice is reduced.

12.    Memorandum of Understanding between Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia on diplomatic consultation (Document No – 41)

The proposal made by Hon. Harsha de Silva, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, to sign the above MoU between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of two governments during the upcoming visit of Minister of Foreign Affairs Mangala Samaraweera to Ethiopia, with the objective of strengthening and developing friendship and cooperation between the two countries, was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.

13.    Digital summit to be held in Sri Lanka (Document No – 42)

It has been planned to hold a Digital Summit in Sri Lanka on 23rd and 24th March 2017 with the view of making Sri Lanka a global digital hub. It is expected that experts and Executive Officers of prominent companies such as Facebook, Google, Social Capital and Infosys will participate in this event. Accordingly, the proposal made by Hon. Harin Fernando, Minister of Telecommunication and Digital Infrastructure, to proceed with the activities related to this summit, was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.

14.    Report on the present status of Gin Nilwala diversion project (Document No – 44)

The General Treasury has released Rs. 3,549 million for the above project from 01-01-2015 to 07-01-2015. The Cabinet Subcommittee appointed to investigate in this regard has observed that paying such a large amount in the beginning of a financial year is abnormal and the recommendation made by the said Cabinet Subcommittee to instruct Police Financial Crimes Investigations Division to launch an investigation in this regard, was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.