President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has instructed Sports Ministry officials to draw up plans aimed at producing athletes capable of international success, NewsFirst reported, citing the President’s Media Division.
The instruction came during a discussion on 2027 Budget proposals for the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, held at the Presidential Secretariat on Thursday morning.
The public health framing
The President linked sports policy directly to the health sector, saying sport could play a significant role in addressing non-communicable diseases, which he described as becoming one of the major challenges facing health services. He emphasised changing public attitudes and encouraging wider participation to promote active lifestyles.
He also noted that although walking paths have been built across the country, some areas have yet to see the intended benefit from them, and said new programmes were needed to encourage greater public use.
Maintaining an accurate, up-to-date database of sports grounds, walking paths and indoor stadiums nationally would allow such programmes to be planned properly, he said.
Projects on the 2027 list
The discussion covered new projects planned for 2027:
- A National High Performance Centre to raise Sri Lankan athletes’ performance to international standards
- A 400-metre synthetic running track in Anuradhapura
- Completion of outstanding work and further development at the Diyagama International Stadium
- Upgrading of the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium
- Joint research on sports and exercise by sports medicine institutions and universities
Progress and future plans for programmes run by the Youth Corps and the National Youth Services Council were also reviewed.
The meeting is one in a series of ministry-by-ministry pre-budget reviews the President has chaired this month ahead of the 12 November Budget Speech, following sessions on tourism and Katunayake airport capacity.
Attendees included Deputy Minister of Youth Affairs Dinindu Saman Hennayake, Chief of Staff to the President Prabath Chandrakeerthi, Finance Ministry Secretary Dr. Harshana Sooriyapperuma, and Director General of the Department of Sports Development and Acting Secretary to the Ministry S. Achchudan.
Not reported
No cost figures, timelines or sites were given for any of the listed projects, including the High Performance Centre. The filing does not say what allocation the ministry has requested for 2027. No other verified newsroom had filed on this meeting at the time of writing; news.lk carried a pre-budget review for a different ministry the same day.