Amendments to CEA Act to be tabled in Parliament within months

Colombo, Dec. 22 (Daily Mirror) - Amendments to the Central Environment Authority (CEA) Act are currently being finalised and are expected to be presented to Parliament within the next three to four months, CEA Director General Kapila Rajapaksa said today.

Speaking at the launch of the Score-Based Impact Assessment Tool for Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs), developed by the Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ), Rajapaksa said the amendment process had been ongoing for a considerable period and is now nearing completion.

“With the adoption of these amendments, the environmental evaluation process will be strengthened with a new set of legal provisions,” he said.

He noted that the CEA has also begun developing a National Development Index Map as part of initiatives linked to the Environment Authority Act. Together, these measures are expected to further enhance the assessment process and help steer environmental management towards more sustainable and desirable outcomes.

Rajapaksa also said that the CEA’s digitalisation roadmap is currently underway. “Through these efforts, we aim to elevate Sri Lanka to a leading position in environmental regulation and management within the Asian region,” he said, adding that Sri Lanka, along with Pakistan, already has one of the most advanced EIA processes in South Asia.

Meanwhile, the newly launched Score-Based Impact Assessment Tool seeks to address long-standing concerns over subjectivity and inconsistency in traditional EIAs. The tool assigns numerical scores to key impact areas such as air and water quality, biodiversity, climate impact, social displacement and public health, based on predefined indicators and national priorities.

Officials said the system would improve transparency, enable objective comparison of projects and encourage developers to adopt stronger mitigation measures, while supporting evidence-based decision-making alongside expert review and public consultation.