Features
Gamini Dissanayake the man he was and what fired the Mahaweli project
Excerpted from volume ii of the Sarath Amunugama autobiography
Since Gamini played an important role in my career I will reproduce here an essay which was entitled; “Fifty; A Beginning”, that I wrote for a felicitation volume which was published to mark his 50th birthday. When I presented the first copy of this volume to JRJ at Braemar, he looked at the title and said, half in jest “I hope it is not the beginning of the end”. Gamini who joined me for the presentation was not amused.
My article in this volume covers Gamin’s considerable contribution to the development of both politics and economic growth in the country. Unfortunately, a few years after this book was published, he was killed by a suicide bomber of the LTTE. Gamini then was on the campaign trail as a Presidential candidate in 1994. He was becoming more and more confident of winning the top prize.
His death was a personal blow to me because I was one of his chief supporters. I was with him that fatal morning in Kandy addressing propaganda meetings. He wanted me to return with him by helicopter to Colombo for the final meeting at Thotalanga on the out skirts of Colombo. But I had an engagement in my electorate and stayed back to see my father and mother in Nugawela. That was a fateful decision since had I got back in the helicopter to Colombo I would have been with Gamini and most probably have been killed along with him.
This is what I wrote in the felicitation volume:
“My earliest recollections of Gamini go back to Trinity College. I was a part of a group of students in whom our principal Norman Walter reposed great hopes as scholars who would enter the University thereby contradicting the oft stated, and certainly ill-deserved notion, that Trinity mostly produced “flannelled fools and muddied oafs”.
“Some of us would assemble regularly at the Kandy Public Library which had an astonishing range of magazines and books. Then we would spend the evening together, walking round the Kandy Lake debating many of the issues we had read about and needed further discussion. On these walks round the lake we would often encounter the Dissanayake boys playing near their lakefront home.
“I remember Gamini most because he had the habit of probing us, his peers, for new ideas and information when we spoke to him. We had a more mundane reason also for knowing Gamini and his brothers. They were the children of the owner of -Silverdale’, Kandy’s best known cafe. After our long walks we would retire to ‘Silverdale’ for a snack and an iced coffee and envy the Dissanayake boys whom we imagined could tuck in to all that delicious food at will!
“Gamini’s father, Andrew, was a leading citizen of Kandy. He had come down from Kotmale and started several businesses, which proved to be so successful that he was a well recognized Kandyan entrepreneur of his time. He was a very affable and gentle person – characteristics which have been inherited by his eldest son. Dissanayake pere (Snr.) always had time for the people of Kandy. We would see him at public gatherings with a large circle of admirers and friends around him.
“He was involved with the politics of the hill country, of Kandy and the Nuwara Eliya regions in particular. He was the President of the All-Island Local Authorities Association and had come to know, at a personal level, the acknowledged father of local government in Sri Lanka, the charismatic S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike.
“After the departure of Dudley Senanayake into semi-retirement from national politics many leading Kandyans found no basis for supporting the ruling UNP caucus of the time. Many of them joined Bandaranaike’s SLFP. Andrew Dissanayake was nominated for the Nuwara Eliya constituency by the SLFP in 1956. He won handsomely and was appointed a deputy minister in the Bandaranaike government.
“Unlike many of his party colleagues, and very much like his son Gamini later on, Andrew was devoid of rancour and hatred. He treated all his constituents and parliamentary colleagues with consideration. This civilized approach to politics has obviously had an impact on Gamini who grew up in an atmosphere of political engagement. Many national party leaders would drop in at their home for a meal and Gamni was an avid listener to their political discussions.
“By 1970, Gamini had passed out as an advocate and was busy building a civil practice in the Chambers of Neville Samarakoon, Queen’s Counsel, another distinguished alumnus of Trinity College. The legal milieu in which he moved, Neville Samarakoon and B.J. Fernando in particular, brought him closer to the ruling circles of the UNP and at the age of 27, Gamini was nominated to stand for his father’s old constituency.
“By this time the SLFP had been rent apart by internal quarrels and Andrew, with many of his early SLFP colleagues, had retired from politics in disgust. It is worth recalling that the SLFP led by Mrs. Bandaranaike, was keen to field young Gamini Dissanayake once it became known that he would enter politics. However, it was Dudley Senanayake’s request that prevailed.
“Dudley threw his full support to the young aspirant even though Nuwara Eliya was, at that time, represented by Donald Ranaweera, a UNP Member of Parliament. It was not an easy decision, since the incumbent UNP MP was the publisher of the Times Group of newspapers and an important financier of the party. Ranaweera also had the backing of the Deputy Leader of the party, J R Jayewardene.
“However, Dudley and JRJ finally decided to field Gamini. It turned out that the decision was the right one. Though the UNP, met with a disastrous defeat in 1970, Gamini emerged as a successful candidate. If I remember right, he was the only newcomer to the UNP benches in Parliament that year. The recently formed SLFP government vented its rage on the young MP. It resented the entry of a son of one of its own stalwarts into the ranks of the UNP.
“The SLFP took the defeat of their candidate, William Fernando, Felix Dias Bandaranaike’s protege, as a major affront. Gamini had to face an election petition and a fresh election. He won again which served to enhance his image in the country and reinforce the view that the UNP was getting over its defeat and was on a ‘winning streak’.
“The 1970 to 1977 period was perhaps the best years of the UNP as a mass organization. Though small in numbers in Parliament, UNP MPs challenged the might of the SLFP and was able to outwit and out-maneuver them. Gamini was in the thick of this campaign. He emerged as a front rank speaker and organizer of the Opposition.
“There were three national level speakers of the UNP who went round the country: JRJ, Premadasa and Gamini. He drew large crowds at meetings and became a firm favourite of the party rank and file. Under the leadership of J R Jayewardene, the UNP swept back into power in 1977. They humbled the coalition government of Mrs. Bandaranaike. Gamini’s role in this historic struggle, was recognized by the party when in an internal party poll for its highest executive body, Gamini obtained 110 votes, second only to the veteran R. Premadasa, who polled 118 votes. On the basis of this watershed poll, Gamini emerged as third ranking leader of the UNP, after Jayewardene and Premadasa.
“Accordingly, he was assigned what was to be the most spectacular project of the 1977 UNP government – Mahaweli development. This was in addition to the subjects of Lands and Land development, which were the traditional focus of attention of successive UNP regimes. The Mahaweli project which was just another development programme undertaken by the SLFP, though it was inaugurated during the Dudley Senanayake regime, was expanded into the key lead project of the JRJ government.
“The UNP accelerated the Mahaweli programme which was planned to be completed in 30 years to six on the orders of JRJ. Five major dams – Kotmale, Victoria, Maduru Oya, Randenigala and Rantambe – were constructed with foreign assistance. Three hundred thousand (300,000) acres of land were irrigated and 7,500 megawatts of electrical power was generated through this giant hydro-electrical, agricultural and farmer settlement scheme, the magnitude of which was unprecedented even in Sri Lanka, a country best known for its historic hydraulic civilization.
“As acknowledged by President Jayewardene, the accelerated Mahaweli programme would not have been a reality but for the dedication, skill and perseverance of Gamini Dissanayake. I think it is fair to say that the government itself did not realize the enormity and complexity of this task when it announced the revised Mahaweli scheme.
“At first the World Bank advised against it stating that Sri Lanka did not have the expertise or the resources to undertake this project. After a stormy meeting with World Bank bureaucrats, President Jayewardene requested them to get back to Washington, saying he was going ahead with or without multi-lateral assistance. The World Bank finally relented after JRJ threatened to close down its office in Colombo.
“The Bank, now represented by its sagacious Vice President, David Hopper, undertook to back the project. It was a promise that was faithfully kept by the international community under the umbrella of the World Bank. The reservations of the World Bank were echoed by local critics who said that the accelerated scheme will never become a reality. It is here, I think, that Gamini’s natural leadership qualities, good sense and the ability to get the best out of his staff became crucial to the Mahaweli scheme.
“He did not waste time on getting cheap publicity. His officials know they could debate an issue with him without being publicly humiliated and shunted aside. He backed all his staff who could do a job of work– be they engineers or baas unnhes. He assembled a group of officials who were the envy of the Sri Lankan public service. Most of all they were enthused with the feeling that they were doing a worthwhile, patriotic task and their youthful minister was ‘a co-worker’.
“As a minister, Gamini always had his eye on the ‘grand concept’ of the Mahaweli and did not waste time nitpicking. His management style has always been to carefully select his aides and then let them get on with the task of doing the job. Sri Lankan professionals – engineers, surveyors, accountants, managers and administrators, who since independence had become pawns in political gamesmanship, found that their skills were, at long last, recognized and rewarded. An aspect of the Mahaweli Development Scheme which has not been properly recognized is that it served as a ‘hundred universities’ for engineering and scientific personnel.
“These `Mahaweli graduates’ of every rank are a tremendous manpower resource. Unfortunately their skills have not been used by our national planners. The decision to accelerate the Mahaweli scheme was perhaps the most effective decision of the Jayewardene regime. This was the peak period of international cooperation. Western regimes were launching their strategy of `rolling back socialism’. Sri Lanka was identified as a lead democratic regime which was turning its back on a controlled economy and switching to market economics. The snag, however, was that the country did not have major development schemes in the pipeline. Donors were ready to support the new government but were demanding realistic and well-designed project proposals.
“The new UNP regime came up with many hare-brained schemes. But the donors were not buying them. It was only the Mahaweli project that could interest the big donors. It was Gamin’s signal contribution that he could rally his engineering, scientific and administrative staff to come up with viable project proposals. He did not rush his staff to produce schemes which would generate cheap publicity for himself. He personally visited donor countries and argued the case for funding.
“On many occasions his detractors, both within and outside his party, would speak about delays in the early phase of the accelerated scheme. As minister in charge, however he knew that the early planning had to be perfect. He defended his planners in Parliament and gave them enough time during the ‘gestation period’ of the new scheme. This strategy paid off. International donors ranging from the USA to the USSR endorsed the Mahaweli scheme.
“The World Bank treated it as one of its `showcase’ projects. It was only after the project was launched that even its detractors realized that the timing of the young minister was near perfect. In real terms, the investment on Mahaweli could never be repeated since inflationary pressures on the world economy during the last decade and the political inwardness of western nations, has totally changed development cooperation patterns in the Third World. There will be no Mahawelis in the future.
“Just as the Mahaweli scheme was a bold initiative in the field of domestic agriculture, Gamini’s short tenure as Minister of Plantation Industries could have led to a rejuvenation of our plantation agriculture. With an intimate knowledge of planting, the socio-economic conditions of the Kandyan peasantry and a wide network of contacts in the tree-crop industry, he was ideally suited to undertake this task. He brought the same enthusiasm to his new Ministry.
“In his usual style he assembled a group of top-level professionals with whom he established a close rapport. Then, he presented a series of proposals which, as in his Mahaweli days, were accepted at all levels including international donor agencies as quite practical. The estate cluster system, decentralization of management, upgrading of professional skills and benefits, estate-village integration and the push for value-added exports and international cooperation among all primary producers, were parts of this landmark development package.
“Another area in which Gamini made a vital contribution was the Indo-Lanka Accord. It is a little-known fact that our highest military leaders requested Gamini to intercede and bring about a settlement in what they called an ‘unwinnable war’. The Generals who made this request were Attygalle, Ranatunga and Seneviratne.
“They first broached this subject with the young minister when he and I were being helicoptered together with them to the President’s House in Kandy for an urgent discussion as the northern war was taking a disastrous turn. After this meeting they flew back to Colombo and continued their plea in Gamini’s home at Alfred House Gardens. Once Gamini was convinced that it was in the national interest to negotiate with India, he set up an informal link-up with Indian policy makers.
“His greatest achievement was the beginning of a dialogue with N Ram, who had been an influential advocate of the Tamil cause. A very close personal relationship followed. While our ineffectual foreign policy establishment fretted and fumed the good relations established among three young people – Rajiv Gandhi, Ram and Gamini – became the basis of an understanding which yielded the dramatic accord of reconciliation.
“President Jayewardene and High Commissioner Dixit who were the principal negotiators could always rely on this groundwork of friendship which for the first time linked the vital triad of Colombo-Delhi-Madras. Gamini’s commitment to a fair and just solution to our ethnic problem was made manifest through his fearless defence of the Accord, when both extremist groups – the LTTE and the JVP – placed him on their ‘hit list’ for not supporting their extremist positions. Gamini is a rare politician totally devoid of racial, religious, and other prejudices.
“During the last four years Gamini has gone through many traumas. But his commitment to politics as the best way of serving the people is constant. Recently, Gamini and I were travelling by car through Dambulla to Anuradhapura. We drove through miles and miles of green paddy fields which were irrigated by Mahaweli waters. We had both known this area earlier as an arid dry zone. We were silent for a long time. Finally, Gamini said quietly, ‘This is what makes politics worthwhile’.”
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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