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JICA to install antennas at Lotus 

09 Jan 2022

By Yakuta Dawood The Mass Media Ministry, in collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), will be commencing the installation of specialised antennas for digitising broadcasting at the Lotus Tower this month, The Sunday Morning Business learns.  Project Coordinating Consultant and Team Leader Prof. Samitha Manawadu said that the Digital Television Broadcasting Project was launched in December 2021 as a measure to fast track the process of installation of antennas in Sri Lanka. “When we were doing the consultancy work, we modified the antennas to fit the Japanese broadcasting system. It is already designed, manufactured and fabricated according to Japanese specifications. Right now, it’s a matter of installing the antennas at the Lotus Tower,” Prof. Manawadu told The Sunday Morning Business .  According to the 'Feasibility Study on Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting Network Project in the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka’ published in 2014, the approximate cost of the project was about JPY 13 billion.  Repeated attempts to reach Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Sri Lanka Office for further comments proved futile.  Meanwhile, when The Sunday Morning Business made inquiries regarding the progress of establishing a company named Lotus Tower Company Ltd. (akin to Selendiva Investments Ltd.), Prof. Manawadu said that the Cabinet had given the approval to establish the company.  The company will be established after the Lotus Tower is vested with the Ministry of Finance, from its current authority, the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL).  However, the Cabinet is yet to grant approval for the TRCSL to hand over the Lotus Tower to the Treasury with the aim of commencing the commercialisation aspect of the tower. “The TRCSL was scheduled to hand over the Lotus Tower to the Treasury on 31 October but was delayed due to an issue of the Chinese contractor being sanctioned by the US. However, the tentative date is now set for 30 November, after which the commercialisation of the tower will be announced globally,” Manawadu explained last September.  In November last year, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned CNEIEC for supporting the illegitimate Maduro regime’s efforts to undermine democracy in Venezuela, meaning it would impact the Sri Lankan economy if operations continued. Therefore, according to sources, it was reported that the TRCSL had suspended a payment amounting to $ 15 million to China National Electronic Import and Export Corporation (CNEIEC). Commenting further, Manawadu also mentioned at the time that the Lotus Tower had not finalised any agreements with interested international or local investors, as the TRCSL did not have the power of undertaking such activities. For this reason, the new company will be established under the Finance Ministry.  “Very soon, an announcement will be made public, with an aim of calling out for quotations and other commercialisation plans of the Lotus Tower,” he added then.  The Lotus Tower, initiated in 2012, is considered to be the tallest communication tower in South Asia, measuring 356 metres in height. The tower was constructed by the contractor CNEIEC with a total cost of $ 104.3 million, funded by EXIM Bank of the People’s Republic of China.  Firstly, the construction contract was awarded to two Chinese companies whose business areas did not include the construction of multi-transmission towers or even large-scale construction. Secondly, even though the work should have been completed by 12 May 2015, the contract period was extended by two years to October 2017 without Cabinet approval. Finally, the borrowing and insurance cost of the project was grossly understated by Rs. 265 million and Rs. 682 million, respectively. The 2017 Annual Report reiterated these concerns; there was an additional delay of over 200 days as work was not completed even on 31 May 2018, and with the tower being declared open only in September 2019, it was said that the demurrage of $ 10.43 million had not been recovered at the point of publication of the Annual Report. 


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