New SIPA’s CEO Eranda Kotelawala and his wife upon arrival yesterday at the Honiara International Airport terminal

ERANDA Kotelawala, the man picked by the Board of Solomon Islands Ports Authority (SIPA) to head the organisation arrived in Honiara yesterday, ready to tackle the mammoth job ahead of him.

He was met on arrival by the acting Chief Executive Officer, Mike Wate and other SIPA senior officials.

Welcoming him, Board chairman, Billy Titiulu, said SIPA is indebted to a number of organisations and government agencies for facilitating Mr Kotelawala’s arrival.

“I am sure Mr Kotelawala would feel at home in his new role as Chief Executive Officer of the Solomon Islands Ports Authority. I am confident staff would accord him the necessary support that he needs as he settles in,” Mr Titiulu said.

Mr Kotelawala, said to be from Sri Lanka, was the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Fiji Ports Corporation Limited/Fiji Ships & Heavy Industries Ltd, based in Suva.

Mr Kotelawala will be overseeing rebuilding SIPA into a formidable organisation it once was. He is expected to be welcomed by the Solomon Islands Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI) on Friday.

According to his profile which appears on the Fiji Ports Corporation website, Mr Kotelawala has a Masters’ degree in Management and Business Administration from Aberdeen Business School in Scotland, United Kingdom.

Mr Kotelawala specialises in a number of areas, including strategic planning, business analysis and Business continuity planning, project management, business risk assessment and marketing.

He also had management experience gained in companies with core business activities “as diverse as pharmaceuticals, IT, Marketing, Publishing and Business Process Re-engineering.

In recent years he worked for the Colombo Plan Secretariat in his native Sri Lanka as well as organisation involving inter-governmental relationships with some 25 member countries.