Rishad achieves HE President’s target

• Government braces for New Year demand cycle, gears up state’s distribution mechanism heavily
• Rishad achieves HE President’s target, preps Lanka Sathosa for demanding season ahead
• ‘Opened a brand new Lanka Sathosa in Akkaraipattu today, completed the task’-Rishad
• Says added 50 new Lanka Sathosa stores across the island in just 11 days!
• ‘Launching bargain New Year hamper in SL for the first time’-Rishad
• One million households to benefit by drastically reduced price of goodies basket!

Sri Lanka’s premier state owned retail chain Lanka Sathosa proudly toasted the achievement of its historic and overnight network expansion on 9 April and thereafter went ahead to unveil another first in Sri Lanka’s FMCG history on the same day- distribution of hampers full of household goodies at drastically reduced prices thereby bringing relief to one million households in the New Year season-and cleverly ensuring the cash registers of the retail chain ring unhindered throughout the season.

“HE President’s instructions to us are clear-give relief to people through Lanka Sathosa immediately in the demanding New Year season, and we are fulfilling it” said Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen on 9 April. Minister Bathiudeen, who returned to Colombo from Akkaraipattu only an hour before, was speaking to the press and TV camera crews on the evening of 9 April at  Borella Lanka Sathosa outlet joined by Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake. He was speaking to the press after the launch of the distribution of Sri Lanka’s first ever bargain New Year promotional goodies hamper on the instructions of HE the President Maithripala Sirisena. One million bargain hampers with many household items (at drastically reduced prices) will be distributed till April 20 at all Lanka Sathosa outlets, upon showing the NID.

“With the launch of new Lanka Sathosa outlet in Akkaraipattu by me today morning, we completed the rapid expansion of 50 Lanka Sathosa outlets as instructed by HE the President Maithripala Sirisena when he inaugurated the Kohuwela Lanka Sathosa branch on 28 March. His vision was that during the Sinhala Hindu New Year season the general public should not face any shortages and we should strengthen state owned Lanka Sathosa network immediately before the start of the season so that our consumers will not fall victim to unscrupulous traders” said Minister Bathiudeen and added: “After the launch of new Kohuwela branch on 28 March, we continued and added another 49 fully equipped outlets across the country in just 11 days. I am pleased to say as of today we achieved HE President’s rapid target and now our Lanka Sathosa network strength across the island is a total of 377 outlets. Our overall target is 500 total Lanka Sathosa stores across the country by the end of this year, after which we will not be adding any new sales outlets. As we celebrate the achievement of our pioneering expansion within a short time, we are today launching the distribution of one million hampers full of household items at drastically reduced rates here at Borella Lanka Sathosa. This is also done to bring relief to people in the coming New Year season. A bag of these FMCG items are valued at Rs 1500 but we charge Rs 975 from each consumer. They only have to produce their NID card and avail of this promotion. HE President’s instructions to us are clear-give relief to people through Lanka Sathosa immediately in the New Year season, and we are fulfilling it. We also cancelled most of the leave of Lanka Sathosa managers and sales staff during the coming days and all outlets will be kept open from early morning till night. In addition to this hamper, the public can also purchase other essential items at lowest prices in the market from the 377 Lanka Sathosa outlets. We are happy to ensure that there will be no shortages for our consumers in this New Year season. We even visited the Pettah wholesale market to ensure there will be no shortages in the coming season.”

On the morning of 7 April, both Minister Bathiudeen and Karunanayake stepped out of their Ministerial offices and made a surprise price inspection visit to Pettah market in Colombo-which is considered to be Sri Lanka’s wholesale epicentre. As for Lanka Sathosa, market studies on Sri Lankan supermarkets reveal Lanka Sathosa is used by 60% of the country’s population consisting of households whose income is Rs 30,000 and below.