{"id":153845,"date":"2025-12-24T17:08:36","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T00:08:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=153845"},"modified":"2025-12-24T17:08:36","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T00:08:36","slug":"support-needed-for-small-boat-builders-paraliya-ambalangoda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2025\/12\/24\/support-needed-for-small-boat-builders-paraliya-ambalangoda\/","title":{"rendered":"Support Needed for Small Boat Builders \u2013 Paraliya, Ambalangoda"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr Sarath Obeysekera<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

This is about Lihiniya Boat Builders, a boatyard in Paraliya near Ambalangoda, engaged in building multi-day fiberglass fishing boats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The owner, Mr. Chanaka, is a young entrepreneur trained at Ocean University. He first worked in the steel sector at my shipyard and later ventured into the FRP (fiberglass) boat-building industry on his own initiative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I personally visited his yard and clearly observed that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • The yard has technical capability<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • There is strong potential for growth<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • What is lacking is state support, not commitment or skill<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Key Issues:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    • The yard urgently needs state assistance, especially financial support without collateral, through the Ministry of Fisheries and the Ministry of Industries<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • He was officially promised replacement IMUL numbers for dilapidated boats removed from Galle Fishery Harbour<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Acting on this assurance, he transported the old boats to his yard<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • However, approval to build the replacement boats is being delayed by the Department of Fisheries<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • The Director of Fisheries \u2013 Galle is reportedly diverting these orders to large, established builders, citing various excuses<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Alarmingly, two IMUL numbers originally allocated to this yard were quietly reassigned to another big timer\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • This points to apparent corrupt practices within the system<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Mr. Chanaka states that he can provide evidence of collusion and unfair treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Appeal:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

      Under the new government, such small and capable entrepreneurs must be protected and encouraged, not sidelined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      If the fisheries sector is to be truly reformed, the Department must be shaken free of favoritism and corruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Dear Hon. Minister,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      We, as supporters of fair development and local industry, should stand by and help this young boat builder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Regards

      Dr Sarath Obeysekera<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Dr Sarath Obeysekera This is about Lihiniya Boat Builders, a boatyard in Paraliya near Ambalangoda, engaged in building multi-day fiberglass fishing boats. The owner, Mr. Chanaka, is a young entrepreneur trained at Ocean University. He first worked in the steel sector at my shipyard and later ventured into the FRP (fiberglass) boat-building industry on his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-153845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-sarath-obeysekera"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153845"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":153846,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153845\/revisions\/153846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}