Annual Report 2010 - Ministry of Finance and Planning

1 | DEVELOPMENT PERSPECTIVESEnvironment: A Land in Harmonywith NatureThe Mahinda Chintana Policy hasdirected to respect for fauna and floraand conserving the environment atnational and international levels. Inorder to achieve this objective, thegovernment implemented numberof projects such as ”Pilisaru Project”,”Green Villages”, ”Gririthuru Sevana”and ”Gaja Mithuro”. During the periodof 2006-2010 government madesignificant total capital investment onenvironment sector.From 2007 onwards, attention hasbeen paid to invest mainly to addressthe issue on solid waste, becauseimproper management of solidwaste is one of the biggest and keyenvironmental problems in Sri Lanka.Investment on environment sectorgradually increased from 2007 to2009 to the implementation of ForestResource Management Project incoupled with waste managementprogrammes.Total investment on Pilisaru WasteManagement Project was Rs 695 millionin 2010, which is around 40 percent ofthe total budgetary allocation. Underthe Pilisaru programme constructionof compost plants at Kalutara,Panadura, Kuliyapitiya ,Medirigiriya,Anuradhapura, Bulathkohupitiya,Kaduwela, Agalawatta, Bandragamalocal authority areas have beencompleted and 18,023 compost binshave been distributed among the60 Local Authorities at a cost of halfprice of a bin. Another 3,213 bins havebeen distributed to the NorthernProvince, schools, religious places andother organizations. Several majorprojects in the environment sectorhave been completed and ended in2010. Upper watershed ManagementProject, Wildlife and Protected AreaManagement Project and Forest SectorDevelopment Project are importantamong them.Rs. mn35003000250020001500100050002006Human-elephant conflict is anothersocio-economic problem whichaffects on the economic development.Under the Gajamithuro programmegovernment has increased theallocation from Rs. 144 million in 2009to Rs. 300 million in 2010 to mitigatethe human-elephant conflict.The government has identified theimportance of addressing the othermajor environmental issues such as lossof biodiversity, land degradation, waterand air pollution and climate changesto conserve the environment for thefuture generation.Real Economy – TowardsHigh ProductivityAgricultureThe government has identified theneed for increasing agriculturalproduction as one of the keycontributory factors of increasingGDP, the productivity, value additionand exports while enhancing livingstandards of the farmers and ensuringfood in the country. The food securityof the people can be ensuredthrough sustainable increase in foodChart 1.49 > Investment on Environment20072008Source: Department of National Budget20092010production, maintenance of prices andincrease in the income levels of lowincome families.Accordingly, the agriculture policyof the government aims at achievingfood security of people, ensuringsustainable income and remunerativeprices for agricultural produce, usinghigh yielding seeds and plantingmaterials and increasing croppingintensity, productivity and land use.The seed policy, which includespromotion of supply of quality seedand planting materials, increase of seedsecurity by maintaining buffer stocks,implementation of certification andquarantine regulation for importedseed and planting materials andadequate provision of quality seedand planting material to the marketis the key foundation to fulfill thedevelopment objectives of the presentagriculture sector.The Agriculture sector, which is mainlydriven by the higher growth in theproduction of paddy, tea, and minorexport crops grew by 7.0 percent94