Features
BEST TWO YEARS – Part 43
CONFESSIONS OF A GLOBAL GYPSY
By Dr. Chandana (Chandi) Jayawardena DPhil
President – Chandi J. Associates Inc. Consulting, Canada
Founder & Administrator – Global Hospitality Forum
Strengthened the Foundation of CHSGA
In 1979, I was elected Treasurer of Sri Lanka’s largest professional body for hoteliers – Ceylon Hotel School Graduates Association (CHSGA). Together with two leading hotel managers – Malin Hapugoda of Bentota Beach Hotel (President) and Mahinda Ratnayake of Neptune Hotel (Secretary), I contributed to strengthening the foundation for CHSGA. This would inspire future generations of hoteliers to continue building a dynamic association.
Our honorary work for CHSGA at that time, focused on financial stability, fund raising, industry recognition, image building and registration of CHSGA as a company. Having studied the membership grade system of the Hotel Catering & Institutional Management Association (HCIMA) during my visit to the UK in 1979, I proposed a similar system for CHSGA. This resulted in membership grades such as Fellows, Members, Licentiates and Associates with relevant professional titles such as FCHSGA after their names. Forty-two years later, when I regularly see these titles in Sri Lanka used on business cards and for professional work, it reminds me of that memorable day in 1980 when I enjoyed the unanimous approval of my proposal by my peers.
On October 16, 2021 via Zoom, I attended another annual general meeting (AGM) of CHSGA. At that event, both CHSGA and I celebrated 50 years in hospitality. As a Past President of CHSGA (1985-1986) I am proud of the work done by all my six predecessors and 27 successors. The current executive committee includes many of my past students of the Ceylon Hotel School (CHS). They have taken the association to an unprecedented level of professionalism, efficiency and innovation. Considering the humble beginnings of CHSGA in 1971 at the CHS hostel with fewer than 50 members, it is impressive that CHSGA now has over 1,300 professional members and continues to strengthen.
Happiest Internal Customers at Swanee
Our innovative initiatives at Hotel Swanee such as time slot for all of the staff to take part in the New Year’s Eve dinner dances, improved employee relations. Our other initiatives to improve relationships with the trade union and internal customers (staff) focused a lot on sports. We organized a cross country marathon and a cycle race for staff. There were weekly events such as guests vs. staff games of volleyball and football. We also organized cricket games only when large groups of British guests arrived. Encouraged with the popularity of these events, we organized a large-scale staff sport meet during the off season of 1980. Many guests volunteered to officiate the events of this meet.
“Sir, how about a large staff event to celebrate the sixth anniversary of our hotel?” the Union President asked me, soon after the successful sports meet. As I did not consider the sixth anniversary as a significant milestone, I asked him to justify such an event. “Sir, as we are so pleased with the manner in which our hotel progressed to break all records, we thought that we should celebrate it while you are the manager of Hotel Swanee” he said. I suspected that he had heard rumours that John Keells Group was considering to promote me to a corporate position at the head office. “If you approve our suggestion, we will raise funds and organize the whole event. We just need your approval” the union leader gently pushed me. So, I gave the green light.
The union and a few members of the management team worked together to organize a large, sixth anniversary event. It included rich and diverse forms of entertainment, including songs in Sinhala, Tamil, English and Hindi, dance performances and comedy acts provided free by hotel entertainers as well as by talented members of the staff. They commenced the event with a newly formed hotel choir singing the Swanee anthem that the staff had composed with the help of the music bands who performed at the hotel. All hotel guests attended the event as spectators. The organizing committee surprised me by raising tons of money from 190 advertisers (including 33 competitor hotels!) in the event souvenir booklet. The second most expensive advertisement (inner cover) was placed by the former enemy of the Hotel Swanee and now the guardian, Mr. K. Solomon Silva of Moragalla. All profits were donated to the staff welfare society.
Chairman of John Keells Group, Mr. Mark Bostock, in his souvenir message stated, “It is all very well to plan and invest in bricks and mortar, swimming pools and kitchens, but when it comes down to brass tacks, it is the staff of the hotel who really make a success of a venture such as this.” In my message, in addition to thanking the event organizers, I summarized the recent success of Hotel Swanee as, “During the summer (off season) of 1980, we enjoyed an occupancy of 87% and we are hoping to achieve the target of 94% by end of this financial year.”
Organizers also obtained a message from the longest staying and one of the oldest guests of Hotel Swanee, Marta Duchstein of West Germany. She was like a mother to all of us. When she heard that I would be visiting Düsseldorf for business, she insisted that I visit her and stay a couple of nights in her house in Essen. When I pointed out to Marta that I had no plans to visit Essen, she said, “The efficient German express train from Düsseldorf airport will bring you to Essen in 33-minutes and I will pick you from there.” As she did not accept any further excuses from me, I spent two days at her house. She was an excellent host and proudly gave me a tour of Essen. Marta’s message to the souvenir included, “The main reasons why I always return to the Hotel Swanee are the excellent service and friendly atmosphere. The young and charming staff usually bring out my motherly instincts.“
Using some profits from the sixth anniversary event and some donations from the hotel profits I approved as a group bonus, we took most of the staff on two ‘around the island’ trips. Our stops included the most scenic spots in Sri Lanka including waterfalls, tea estates and beaches. We also visited some top hotels to gain a little industrial exposure. These ‘fun-filled’ trips further enhanced our industrial relations.
Running successful resort hotels is easy, if the management focuses on three simple strategies:
1. Keeping the internal customer (staff) happy
2. Making the paying customers (guests) happy, and
3. Focusing more on revenue generation (increasing sales volume and creative pricing).
Unfortunately, most hoteliers and their financial controllers focus more on cost cutting and controls. Although important, to me such aspects deserve secondary focus in the context of profit optimization, compared to the three simple strategies I always used.
Crisis Management – Fighting an Angry Ocean
One day Mr. K. Solomon Silva visited me early in the morning. One this occasion, in his panic mood, he did something he had never done before. He came to my apartment with the night receptionist and woke me up around 5:00 am. “Sir, I must warn you about something Mother Nature did to this village about twenty-five years ago during the monsoon period.” After catching his breath, he continued, “It is a warning of a curse when the flow of the river mouth reverses from around the small island on the river mouth. The sea then gets exceptionally rough on Moragalla beach. We may lose the entire beach within a day and the sea erosion can affect the hotel buildings drastically.”
I quickly went to the beach with Solomon and understood the imminent danger. I sought his advice as well as the staff who were from the village. In crisis management, the situational leadership must be delegated to trustworthy people who understood the local crisis better. After listening to their advice, I had emergency meetings, first with the management team and then with all of the staff. We ordered 1,000 strong bags to be filled with sand to create a strong barrier to protect the hotel buildings from the ocean becoming rougher with unprecedented high tides. On my request, all staff and some hotel guests volunteered day and night to protect Hotel Swanee. I called it a ‘Shramadana’ (a concept of donating time and effort practiced in Sri Lankan villages).
When the big, ruthless waves arrived, these affected all of the hotels in the area. Due to our well-timed preventive actions on this occasion, Hotel Swanee was the least affected. Thank you, Solomon! The beach came back by the end of the monsoon period and the 1980/1981 tourist season commenced with a bang. Unfortunately, that scary incident in 1980 was quickly forgotten. Twenty-four years later, during the Boxing Day Tsunami in 2004, sadly most parts of the Hotel Swanee were destroyed and the hotel was never opened again. Every year, when I spend a month in Sri Lanka, I visit most of the hotels I worked at during my early career for nostalgic reasons, but after 2004, I never went back to Morogalla beach. It would be too sad for me to see the ruins of Hotel Swanee, where I had two memorable years.
My Best Two Years
My two years at Hotel Swanee was a non-stop, fun-filled joy ride. We had parties throughout the two years. Any occasion such as a birthday of a manager or a tour leader became an excuse for us to organize another exciting party at my pool-side and sea-front apartment. During the tourist season we worked very hard while having fun making our guests happy.
On the quiet days when we didn’t have any celebrations, I invited managers of neighbouring hotels with their wives to visit us in the evenings. As some of these managers were relatively new to the hotel industry, they liked to chat with us and observe how we did innovative things to make customers happy. I used to entertain them with dinner in the garden while listening to the rhythmic sound of the ocean waves. We developed excellent relations with our competitor hotels, all managed by much older hotel managers.
On the days that we did not have a late-night event or a party, all members of my young management team and senior supervisors proceeded to my apartment after dinner. We then played a ‘very competitive’ form of monopoly close to mid-night while eating chocolates, sipping coffee and liqueur. Then we went for a sea bath followed by a dip in the swimming pool. After an aggressive, water polo game, we returned to my apartment for another game of monopoly, 304 cards or a fast chess tournament until about 2:00 am. All the other managers lived in management living quarters close to my apartment. Even though we played hard till lat
e, we were still back at work by breakfast time to look after our guests.
One morning, an older guest who appeared to be tired and annoyed, came to see me with a serious complaint. He said that there were some noisy hooligans at the pool after midnight. He added that neither he nor his wife could fall asleep with all that disturbance. He requested me to investigate and take corrective action. I assured him that I would find the culprits and ensure that no one made any more noise after midnight. After that we limited our late-night activities to quiet fun things without going into the pool after midnight.
On his departure, that guest praised me for promptly solving his problem. He said, “I was never disturbed after I complained to you, Chandi. Thank you very much for sorting that hooligan problem.” When I said, “You are most welcome, Mr. Müller. My team and I look forward to welcoming you next year”, his response surprised me. “What next year? My wife and I will be back from Germany at Hotel Swanee in three months’ time for another three weeks. This is our second home, Chandi. We love you and your team”, he said. I was happy about that news, and happier that he never guessed who the real ‘Noisy Hooligans’ were.
Out of the 50 years I spent in hospitality (operations, management, education and consulting), my two years as the Manager of Hotel Swanee were the most enjoyable. During the time of my mid-career when I was the General Manager of seven, large five and four-star hotels, I was too busy to be fully involved in guest relations as I did during my two years at Hotel Swanee. In larger hotels, unfortunately, guests become just numbers, and hoteliers focus more on dollars than guests. If we focus on satisfying the internal customer (employees) they usually make sure that the external customer (guests) is happy, thus resulting in good revenues and profits. When I look back, we certainly did the right thing in 1979 and 1980.
Emotional Farewells
Towards the end of 1980, on my 27th birthday, I received a call from my boss, Bobby Adams, Director Operations of the Hotel Management & Marketing Services Limited, the John Keells subsidiary company who managed all seven hotels of the group. “Chandi, get ready to hand over Hotel Swanee to your Assistant Manager. The John Keells Board has agreed with me to promote you as my deputy and transfer you to the head office in two months’ time”.
Solomon rushed to meet me when heard the news about my transfer to Colombo. Although he tried to act tough in most situations, on this occasion, he was somewhat emotional. I assured him that in my new corporate position, I will be overlooking Hotel Swanee and will be visiting Beruwala periodically. After that, whenever I stopped at Hotel Swanee, Solomon was the first to rush to greet me. Every time we met, if he was dressed in a folded sarong, he promptly unfolded his sarong up to his ankles as a mark of respect common in those villages. Solomon had become a reliable friend of mine and a loyal supporter.
The Hotel Swanee staff organized a series of farewell events. On my last day at the hotel, they presented me with a gold chain and a gold ‘C’. When I heard that each of those lower income employees had contributed their personal service charge money (which was often higher than their salaries) to buy that expensive chain for me, I shed a tear.
by Dr Gotabhya Ranasinghe
Senior Consultant Cardiologist
National Hospital Sri Lanka
When we sought a meeting with Hon Dr. Ramesh Pathirana, Minister of Health, he graciously cleared his busy schedule to accommodate us. Renowned for his attentive listening and deep understanding, Minister Pathirana is dedicated to advancing the health sector. His openness and transparency exemplify the qualities of an exemplary politician and minister.
Dr. Palitha Mahipala, the current Health Secretary, demonstrates both commendable enthusiasm and unwavering support. This combination of attributes makes him a highly compatible colleague for the esteemed Minister of Health.
Our discussion centered on a project that has been in the works for the past 30 years, one that no other minister had managed to advance.
Minister Pathirana, however, recognized the project’s significance and its potential to revolutionize care for heart patients.
The project involves the construction of a state-of-the-art facility at the premises of the National Hospital Colombo. The project’s location within the premises of the National Hospital underscores its importance and relevance to the healthcare infrastructure of the nation.
This facility will include a cardiology building and a tertiary care center, equipped with the latest technology to handle and treat all types of heart-related conditions and surgeries.
Securing funding was a major milestone for this initiative. Minister Pathirana successfully obtained approval for a $40 billion loan from the Asian Development Bank. With the funding in place, the foundation stone is scheduled to be laid in September this year, and construction will begin in January 2025.
This project guarantees a consistent and uninterrupted supply of stents and related medications for heart patients. As a result, patients will have timely access to essential medical supplies during their treatment and recovery. By securing these critical resources, the project aims to enhance patient outcomes, minimize treatment delays, and maintain the highest standards of cardiac care.
Upon its fruition, this monumental building will serve as a beacon of hope and healing, symbolizing the unwavering dedication to improving patient outcomes and fostering a healthier society.We anticipate a future marked by significant progress and positive outcomes in Sri Lanka’s cardiovascular treatment landscape within the foreseeable timeframe.
by Fr. Emmanuel Fernando, OMI
Jesuit Fr. Aloysius Pieris (affectionately called Fr. Aloy) celebrated his 90th birthday on April 9, 2024 and I, as the editor of our Oblate Journal, THE MISSIONARY OBLATE had gone to press by that time. Immediately I decided to publish an article, appreciating the untiring selfless services he continues to offer for inter-Faith dialogue, the renewal of the Catholic Church, his concern for the poor and the suffering Sri Lankan masses and to me, the present writer.
It was in 1988, when I was appointed Director of the Oblate Scholastics at Ampitiya by the then Oblate Provincial Fr. Anselm Silva, that I came to know Fr. Aloy more closely. Knowing well his expertise in matters spiritual, theological, Indological and pastoral, and with the collaborative spirit of my companion-formators, our Oblate Scholastics were sent to Tulana, the Research and Encounter Centre, Kelaniya, of which he is the Founder-Director, for ‘exposure-programmes’ on matters spiritual, biblical, theological and pastoral. Some of these dimensions according to my view and that of my companion-formators, were not available at the National Seminary, Ampitiya.
Ever since that time, our Oblate formators/ accompaniers at the Oblate Scholasticate, Ampitiya , have continued to send our Oblate Scholastics to Tulana Centre for deepening their insights and convictions regarding matters needed to serve the people in today’s context. Fr. Aloy also had tried very enthusiastically with the Oblate team headed by Frs. Oswald Firth and Clement Waidyasekara to begin a Theologate, directed by the Religious Congregations in Sri Lanka, for the contextual formation/ accompaniment of their members. It should very well be a desired goal of the Leaders / Provincials of the Religious Congregations.
Besides being a formator/accompanier at the Oblate Scholasticate, I was entrusted also with the task of editing and publishing our Oblate journal, ‘The Missionary Oblate’. To maintain the quality of the journal I continue to depend on Fr. Aloy for his thought-provoking and stimulating articles on Biblical Spirituality, Biblical Theology and Ecclesiology. I am very grateful to him for his generous assistance. Of late, his writings on renewal of the Church, initiated by Pope St. John XX111 and continued by Pope Francis through the Synodal path, published in our Oblate journal, enable our readers to focus their attention also on the needed renewal in the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka. Fr. Aloy appreciated very much the Synodal path adopted by the Jesuit Pope Francis for the renewal of the Church, rooted very much on prayerful discernment. In my Religious and presbyteral life, Fr.Aloy continues to be my spiritual animator / guide and ongoing formator / acccompanier.
Fr. Aloysius Pieris, BA Hons (Lond), LPh (SHC, India), STL (PFT, Naples), PhD (SLU/VC), ThD (Tilburg), D.Ltt (KU), has been one of the eminent Asian theologians well recognized internationally and one who has lectured and held visiting chairs in many universities both in the West and in the East. Many members of Religious Congregations from Asian countries have benefited from his lectures and guidance in the East Asian Pastoral Institute (EAPI) in Manila, Philippines. He had been a Theologian consulted by the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences for many years. During his professorship at the Gregorian University in Rome, he was called to be a member of a special group of advisers on other religions consulted by Pope Paul VI.
Fr. Aloy is the author of more than 30 books and well over 500 Research Papers. Some of his books and articles have been translated and published in several countries. Among those books, one can find the following: 1) The Genesis of an Asian Theology of Liberation (An Autobiographical Excursus on the Art of Theologising in Asia, 2) An Asian Theology of Liberation, 3) Providential Timeliness of Vatican 11 (a long-overdue halt to a scandalous millennium, 4) Give Vatican 11 a chance, 5) Leadership in the Church, 6) Relishing our faith in working for justice (Themes for study and discussion), 7) A Message meant mainly, not exclusively for Jesuits (Background information necessary for helping Francis renew the Church), 8) Lent in Lanka (Reflections and Resolutions, 9) Love meets wisdom (A Christian Experience of Buddhism, 10) Fire and Water 11) God’s Reign for God’s poor, 12) Our Unhiddden Agenda (How we Jesuits work, pray and form our men). He is also the Editor of two journals, Vagdevi, Journal of Religious Reflection and Dialogue, New Series.
Fr. Aloy has a BA in Pali and Sanskrit from the University of London and a Ph.D in Buddhist Philosophy from the University of Sri Lankan, Vidyodaya Campus. On Nov. 23, 2019, he was awarded the prestigious honorary Doctorate of Literature (D.Litt) by the Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya, the Most Venerable Welamitiyawe Dharmakirthi Sri Kusala Dhamma Thera.
Fr. Aloy continues to be a promoter of Gospel values and virtues. Justice as a constitutive dimension of love and social concern for the downtrodden masses are very much noted in his life and work. He had very much appreciated the commitment of the late Fr. Joseph (Joe) Fernando, the National Director of the Social and Economic Centre (SEDEC) for the poor.
In Sri Lanka, a few religious Congregations – the Good Shepherd Sisters, the Christian Brothers, the Marist Brothers and the Oblates – have invited him to animate their members especially during their Provincial Congresses, Chapters and International Conferences. The mainline Christian Churches also have sought his advice and followed his seminars. I, for one, regret very much, that the Sri Lankan authorities of the Catholic Church –today’s Hierarchy—- have not sought Fr.
Aloy’s expertise for the renewal of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka and thus have not benefited from the immense store of wisdom and insight that he can offer to our local Church while the Sri Lankan bishops who governed the Catholic church in the immediate aftermath of the Second Vatican Council (Edmund Fernando OMI, Anthony de Saram, Leo Nanayakkara OSB, Frank Marcus Fernando, Paul Perera,) visited him and consulted him on many matters. Among the Tamil Bishops, Bishop Rayappu Joseph was keeping close contact with him and Bishop J. Deogupillai hosted him and his team visiting him after the horrible Black July massacre of Tamils.
Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement
By Gomi Senadhira
senadhiragomi@gmail.com
“You might tell fairy tales, but the progress of a country cannot be achieved through such narratives. A country cannot be developed by making false promises. The country moved backward because of the electoral promises made by political parties throughout time. We have witnessed that the ultimate result of this is the country becoming bankrupt. Unfortunately, many segments of the population have not come to realize this yet.” – President Ranil Wickremesinghe, 2024 Budget speech
Any Sri Lankan would agree with the above words of President Wickremesinghe on the false promises our politicians and officials make and the fairy tales they narrate which bankrupted this country. So, to understand this, let’s look at one such fairy tale with lots of false promises; Ranil Wickremesinghe’s greatest achievement in the area of international trade and investment promotion during the Yahapalana period, Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SLSFTA).
It is appropriate and timely to do it now as Finance Minister Wickremesinghe has just presented to parliament a bill on the National Policy on Economic Transformation which includes the establishment of an Office for International Trade and the Sri Lanka Institute of Economics and International Trade.
Was SLSFTA a “Cleverly negotiated Free Trade Agreement” as stated by the (former) Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama during the Parliamentary Debate on the SLSFTA in July 2018, or a colossal blunder covered up with lies, false promises, and fairy tales? After SLSFTA was signed there were a number of fairy tales published on this agreement by the Ministry of Development Strategies and International, Institute of Policy Studies, and others.
However, for this article, I would like to limit my comments to the speech by Minister Samarawickrama during the Parliamentary Debate, and the two most important areas in the agreement which were covered up with lies, fairy tales, and false promises, namely: revenue loss for Sri Lanka and Investment from Singapore. On the other important area, “Waste products dumping” I do not want to comment here as I have written extensively on the issue.
1. The revenue loss
During the Parliamentary Debate in July 2018, Minister Samarawickrama stated “…. let me reiterate that this FTA with Singapore has been very cleverly negotiated by us…. The liberalisation programme under this FTA has been carefully designed to have the least impact on domestic industry and revenue collection. We have included all revenue sensitive items in the negative list of items which will not be subject to removal of tariff. Therefore, 97.8% revenue from Customs duty is protected. Our tariff liberalisation will take place over a period of 12-15 years! In fact, the revenue earned through tariffs on goods imported from Singapore last year was Rs. 35 billion.
The revenue loss for over the next 15 years due to the FTA is only Rs. 733 million– which when annualised, on average, is just Rs. 51 million. That is just 0.14% per year! So anyone who claims the Singapore FTA causes revenue loss to the Government cannot do basic arithmetic! Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, I call on my fellow members of this House – don’t mislead the public with baseless criticism that is not grounded in facts. Don’t look at petty politics and use these issues for your own political survival.”
I was surprised to read the minister’s speech because an article published in January 2018 in “The Straits Times“, based on information released by the Singaporean Negotiators stated, “…. With the FTA, tariff savings for Singapore exports are estimated to hit $10 million annually“.
As the annual tariff savings (that is the revenue loss for Sri Lanka) calculated by the Singaporean Negotiators, Singaporean $ 10 million (Sri Lankan rupees 1,200 million in 2018) was way above the rupees’ 733 million revenue loss for 15 years estimated by the Sri Lankan negotiators, it was clear to any observer that one of the parties to the agreement had not done the basic arithmetic!
Six years later, according to a report published by “The Morning” newspaper, speaking at the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) on 7th May 2024, Mr Samarawickrama’s chief trade negotiator K.J. Weerasinghehad had admitted “…. that forecasted revenue loss for the Government of Sri Lanka through the Singapore FTA is Rs. 450 million in 2023 and Rs. 1.3 billion in 2024.”
If these numbers are correct, as tariff liberalisation under the SLSFTA has just started, we will pass Rs 2 billion very soon. Then, the question is how Sri Lanka’s trade negotiators made such a colossal blunder. Didn’t they do their basic arithmetic? If they didn’t know how to do basic arithmetic they should have at least done their basic readings. For example, the headline of the article published in The Straits Times in January 2018 was “Singapore, Sri Lanka sign FTA, annual savings of $10m expected”.
Anyway, as Sri Lanka’s chief negotiator reiterated at the COPF meeting that “…. since 99% of the tariffs in Singapore have zero rates of duty, Sri Lanka has agreed on 80% tariff liberalisation over a period of 15 years while expecting Singapore investments to address the imbalance in trade,” let’s turn towards investment.
Investment from Singapore
In July 2018, speaking during the Parliamentary Debate on the FTA this is what Minister Malik Samarawickrama stated on investment from Singapore, “Already, thanks to this FTA, in just the past two-and-a-half months since the agreement came into effect we have received a proposal from Singapore for investment amounting to $ 14.8 billion in an oil refinery for export of petroleum products. In addition, we have proposals for a steel manufacturing plant for exports ($ 1 billion investment), flour milling plant ($ 50 million), sugar refinery ($ 200 million). This adds up to more than $ 16.05 billion in the pipeline on these projects alone.
And all of these projects will create thousands of more jobs for our people. In principle approval has already been granted by the BOI and the investors are awaiting the release of land the environmental approvals to commence the project.
I request the Opposition and those with vested interests to change their narrow-minded thinking and join us to develop our country. We must always look at what is best for the whole community, not just the few who may oppose. We owe it to our people to courageously take decisions that will change their lives for the better.”
According to the media report I quoted earlier, speaking at the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) Chief Negotiator Weerasinghe has admitted that Sri Lanka was not happy with overall Singapore investments that have come in the past few years in return for the trade liberalisation under the Singapore-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement. He has added that between 2021 and 2023 the total investment from Singapore had been around $162 million!
What happened to those projects worth $16 billion negotiated, thanks to the SLSFTA, in just the two-and-a-half months after the agreement came into effect and approved by the BOI? I do not know about the steel manufacturing plant for exports ($ 1 billion investment), flour milling plant ($ 50 million) and sugar refinery ($ 200 million).
However, story of the multibillion-dollar investment in the Petroleum Refinery unfolded in a manner that would qualify it as the best fairy tale with false promises presented by our politicians and the officials, prior to 2019 elections.
Though many Sri Lankans got to know, through the media which repeatedly highlighted a plethora of issues surrounding the project and the questionable credentials of the Singaporean investor, the construction work on the Mirrijiwela Oil Refinery along with the cement factory began on the24th of March 2019 with a bang and Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his ministers along with the foreign and local dignitaries laid the foundation stones.
That was few months before the 2019 Presidential elections. Inaugurating the construction work Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the projects will create thousands of job opportunities in the area and surrounding districts.
The oil refinery, which was to be built over 200 acres of land, with the capacity to refine 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day, was to generate US$7 billion of exports and create 1,500 direct and 3,000 indirect jobs. The construction of the refinery was to be completed in 44 months. Four years later, in August 2023 the Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal presented by President Ranil Wickremesinghe to cancel the agreement with the investors of the refinery as the project has not been implemented! Can they explain to the country how much money was wasted to produce that fairy tale?
It is obvious that the President, ministers, and officials had made huge blunders and had deliberately misled the public and the parliament on the revenue loss and potential investment from SLSFTA with fairy tales and false promises.
As the president himself said, a country cannot be developed by making false promises or with fairy tales and these false promises and fairy tales had bankrupted the country. “Unfortunately, many segments of the population have not come to realize this yet”.
(The writer, a specialist and an activist on trade and development issues . )
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