Minister of State Lohan Ratwatte says that the general public will be able to join the gem mining business by establishing a system of issuing gem licenses in the Elahera area and licenses will be issued from next January.
He said this at a consultative committee meeting of the Ministry of Industrial Affairs.
The project to launch a gem mining project in the Ratnapura ‘Ve Ganga’ area was halted due to protests.
Accordingly, Minister of State Lohan Ratwatte discussed the matter at a special development committee meeting and pointed out the need to implement this program which will generate huge revenue for the country as well.
The relevant gazette notification was approved by the Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Industrial Affairs yesterday (06) to place gem orders online up to the value of USD 3000.
It was revealed that these steps have been taken to promote the gem and jewelery industry due to the restrictions on tourism due because of the prevailing Covid situation. The gazette notification also reduced the 0.5 percent fee charged by the Gem and Jewelery Authority to 0.25 percent.
Gazette Notification No. 2165/2 containing Regulations made by the Minister of Industries under the National Gem and Jewelery Authority Act No. 50 of 1993 was thus approved by the Committee.
Minister of Industrial Affairs – Wimal Weerawansa, State Minister of Gem and Jewelery Industries – Lohan Ratwatte, State Minister of Batik, Handloom Textiles and Local Apparel – Dayasiri Jayasekara, Retired Secretary-General of the Ministry of Industries Daya Ratnayake and other officials have participated in this committee meeting.
The Members of Parliament also drew attention to the issues related to various industrial estates and industries in the island. The Minister instructed the relevant officials to take immediate action to resolve them in coordination with the relevant officials or to submit detailed reports to the next committee.
