Economy

Sri Lanka’s first waste-to-energy power plant turns mountains of trash into clean electricity

Published

8 months ago

March 18, 2025

In the densely populated Western Province of Sri Lanka, the disposal of solid waste has been a dirty – and dangerous – problem.

Thirty-two people were killed in the collapse of a mountain of waste at the Meethotamulla open dumping site in the Colombo District seven years ago. The pile of rotting debris had shifted from flooding and a fire before it collapsed and buried dozens of people living in nearby homes.

Even without such tragic disasters unfolding, untreated solid waste causes unhealthy air pollution as it decomposes, releasing harmful gasses into the air including highly flammable methane. It poisons the soil and groundwater as well.

Today, Sri Lanka’s Western Province, home to more than six million people, still produces 3,500 metric tons of household waste every day. That’s the equivalent of a stack of 2,600 compact cars or 13,000 motorcycles every day.

To tackle the persistent problem of solid waste disposal, the Western Power Company Ltd, a subsidiary of Aitken Spence PLC, launched the nation’s first waste-to-energy power plant.

Source – Newswire

Economy

Sri lanka’s domestic exports rise by 5.2%

Published

1 day ago

November 6, 2025

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The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) reports that domestic exports of goods and materials have grown by 5.2% during the first nine months of this year, compared to the same period in 2024.

According to official data, export earnings for the period reached US$ 10,215.1 million, up from US$ 9,518.1 million recorded last year.

The increase reflects a steady improvement in the country’s export performance, supported by higher demand and stronger production across key sectors.

Economy

SriLankan Airlines group loses Rs10.7bn in three months, operating losses up

Published

4 days ago

November 3, 2025

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State-run SriLankan Airlines group has lost 10.7 billion rupees in the three months to June 2025, down from 12.9 billion rupees last year but operating losses had widened, despite improvement in traffic, a Finance Ministry report said.

SriLankan had posted revenues of 51.7 billion rupees, up 1.5 billion rupees in the June quarter, helped by high higher traffic volumes and a big improvement in load factor to 82.3 percent a from 74.8 last year.

The airline had carried more than one million passengers across 3,217 flights during the quarter, with traffic growing 23 percent, the report said.

But cargo revenue had declined 13 percent to 7.1 billion rupees, and other revenues had also fallen, bringing net traffic revenues to 62.7 billion rupees, down from 63.8 billion rupees last year.SriLankan Airlines group loses Rs10.7bn in three months, operating losses up

Economy

Sri Lanka is the second most expensive country in South Asia to live in

Published

5 days ago

November 2, 2025

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Sri Lanka is the second most expensive South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) country to live with cost of living for an individual being $506 or Rs. 153,899 excluding rent to live a comfortable life according to Numbeo, a user-generated cost-of-living statistics website.

According to the website for a family of four living in the city of Colombo, the monthly costs are Rs. 570,997 excluding rent to live comfortably. This includes the cost of childcare, groceries, outings, dining, school fees, house expenses, vehicle expenses etc.

Numbeo is the world’s largest cost of living database and a crowd sourced global resource for quality of life data. It provides insights into cost of living. According to the site Maldives is considered the most expensive SAARC country to live in comfortably with a cost of $840.4 per person.

Source – Dailymirror