Features
H.W. Cave: A brief essay on his life, works and company
By Avishka Mario Senewiratne
Ever since the British took over the coastal region of Ceylon and subsequently the realms of Kandy, many English travellers such as Percival, Cordiner, Davy, Marshall, Tennent, Baker, and Skinner visited our country. The list of travellers who wrote of our own ‘picturesque Ceylon’ is much longer. Long before that, the well known Robert Knox was a glorious captive of Râjasinghe II. His book on Ceylon, in any continent is a classic.
Undoubtedly, this former colony of the monarch of England, had touched the hearts of many who had visited and a more significant number of those who have not. Yet no one did what H.W. Cave would do for Ceylon. He painted a bird’s eye and traveller’s eye of this ancient country so as not just to attract the foreign reader but also to honour the sons and daughters of the soil.
His photographs coupled with his lucid style of writing have captivated readers of yesterday, today and will, by all means; tomorrow! Not many may know of this lover of Ceylon or his workings in the commercial sphere. However, the name “Cave & Co.” have stood the test of time. Thus, here I am attempting to record his epitaph and not forget to illuminate those who keep us writers moving forward: the readers.
H.W. Cave: A Biographical Note
Henry William Cave was born on February 23, 1854, to William Cave and Louisa Wilson of Northamptonshire, England. Nothing much is known of his early days apart from the fact that he attended Magdalen College School and subsequently Queen’s College, Oxford. However, prior to the completion of his degree, Cave dropped out of Oxford at age 18.
With nothing else to do, he accepted the role of being the private secretary of Bishop Reginald Copleston, the newly appointed Anglican Bishop of Colombo. Thus, Copleston and Cave travelled to a country they both knew little of in 1872. Coming to Ceylon, changed the life and the attitude of Cave for the better. He, who was a shy, introverted young man in England, experienced much prosperity in Ceylon.
The Anglican Diocese of Colombo, though large in area, had a somewhat low population. Copleston realised that his young secretary had little work to do and encouraged him to edit the Ceylon Diocesan Gazette, the oldest Anglican paper in the country. It was here where Cave first got exposed to typography and printing.
By 1876 Cave was well settled in Ceylon. That year, with the blessing and encouragement of his Bishop, he started a simple bookstore which sold Bibles and religious books. Located in Upper Chatham Street, Colombo Fort, this was the birth of H.W. Cave and Company.
Interestingly, many young Europeans who came to Ceylon during British rule either went on to be planters, administrators of the government or those who had the means, to start their own businesses. Henry Cave on the other hand wanted to do something with books. This involved travel and research, taking photographs, writing books and then selling them.
Cave had considerable acumen about what he was doing. By 1884 he made enough money to expand his shop stocking not only books but also stationery,, musical instruments and sporting goods such as billiard tables. He also sold rickshaws and bicycles and was a printer and publisher. After moving to a two-storey building in Queen Street, Fort, he had enough business to employ over 350 people.
This building which had a well-proportioned classical façade and a 400-foot road frontage was popularly called ‘Amen’s Corner’. While on furlough in the UK, he met Laura Emma Long and married her in 1880 in Richmond, Surrey. One of Cave’s daughters was named ‘Kalani’. However, the marriage was short-lived with the untimely death of Laura in 1886. Cave, who was widowed at 32 was left heartbroken.
He left his business under the care of his brothers and nephew and returned to England. remaining the senior partner. He re-entered Oxford to complete the degree he dropped pursuing some 14 years previously, Cave ultimately completed his first degree and also took a Master’s in Arts. He made a number of visits to Ceylon until his death in 1913.
H.W. Cave: His works
Despite leaving Ceylon in 1886, Cave had by then acquired immense knowledge of the island, its people and cities. He had a series of notes on various places he visited and though an amateur photographer, a collection of landscape photographs of various areas in Ceylon. With time he became a highly sought-after photographer reputed for the quality and precision of his work.
Unlike others who wrote of this country, who had only illustrated their work with sketches as plates, Cave thought out of the box. He illustrated his text with his own photographs publishing a series of deluxe travelogues on Ceylon. This series was called Picturesque Ceylon. Following are the books of that series:
· Cave, H.W., (1894), Picturesque Ceylon: Colombo and the Kelani Valley, Volume 1, London: Samson Low, Marston & Co. with 36 illustrations.
· Cave, H.W., (1895), Picturesque Ceylon: Kandy and Peradeniya, Volume 2, London: Samson Low, Marston & Co. with 33 illustrations.
· Cave, H.W., (1897), Picturesque Ceylon: Nuwaraeliya and Adam’s Peak, Volume 3, London: Samson Low, Marston & Co. with 30 illustrations.
In his preface to his first book, Cave states that this is not a ‘literary effort’ but ‘some information about the scenes depicted’. He goes on to say, “My purpose is to enable the friends of European residents in Ceylon, and others who are interested in the Island, to obtain a better idea of its charming features than is possible from a mere verbal description.” The book was an instant hit, both in Europe and Ceylon. His images of Colombo and the Kelani Valley together with his highly readable text was enjoyed by his readers.
His lucid style of writing gripped the reader’s attention tempting many to read from cover to cover at a single sitting. Cave begins his descriptions with a simple view of the palm-fringed shores of Colombo from the deck of a travelling ship. He then describes the docks and the areas surrounding the Fort and Pettah, and subsequently the inner parts of Colombo.
What captivates the reader is that he complements his text by describing a certain event or area, thereby creating a word picture and then providing actual photographs shot by him to give a thorough overview. This is what made his three volumes of Picturesque Ceylon so appealing to many. Further, the fine binding of these books made them very attractive. This is how the Ceylon Independent reviewed the first book by Cave:
“It is the finest and the most handsomely got up a book on the subject of Ceylon that has yet been published; the most praiseworthy attempt to paint the lily that we have seen.”
Cave went on to write yet another book in 1897 on Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa titled Ruined Cities of Ceylon. This too became an instant hit and out of all his publications, this is the most hard-to-find book. It went into immediate reprints due to the growing demand. In 1900, Cave published his most endearing work highlighting the impetus of the booming tea industry of Ceylon. This book titled Golden Tips: Description of Ceylon and its Great Tea Industry has over 200 illustrations and runs across 467 pages.
One conspicuous feature of this book is its extremely hard yet eye-catching gold cloth binding with gold leaf edges. Though the first print ran for 3,000 copies within a year another reprint had to be done. By 1907, there were four editions of this book and numerous other reprints have followed to date. Reviewing the Golden Tips, the London Atheneum commented:
“Mr. Cave seems to hold a brief for the whole island of Ceylon, with its varied attractions… The charm of Sinhalese life and nature is depicted with glowing colours and interesting details… The simple, peaceful village life, and the more stirring existence of the townspeople, with their varied avocations, are equally well described.”
H.W. Cave certainly knew his marketing. Upon the completion of his work, he sought reviews on each of his publications and used them widely in his advertising. This attracted attention with both daily newspapers and scholarly journals praising his efforts and the high quality and readability of his illustrated works. In 1908, Cave published the Book of Ceylon. The late Dr. Christopher Uragoda considers this work as his magnum opus.
The Book of Ceylon ran over 650 pages and was lavishly illustrated like Cave’s previous works. It also has a signature colour plate of Lankathilaka temple. His admiration of the construction of a splendid railway line in the country, led to his compiling a book on the railway together with an account of the country’s varied attractions for visitor and tourists. The binding of this book is a bright red-clothed fabric with gold engravings. As the railway then was the most commonly used mode of transport for both people and goods, this publication with its detailed maps attracted many readers and was highly appreciated.
In 1910, Cave published his final book The Ceylon Government Railway which was mainly extracted from The Book of Ceylon. Though this is the least appreciated work of Cave, its first edition ran into 6,000 copies. Today all of Cave’s books are high in demand and its first editions are highly sought after by book collectors. Ismeth Raheem and Percy Colin-Thome in their book Images of British Ceylon commented on Cave as follows: “He (H.W. Cave) attempted to present a quintessential vision of Ceylon.”
Messrs. H.W. Cave and Company
Henry Cave first opened his bookstore as more of a side-business on the encouragement of his dear friend, Bishop Copleston in 1876. However, he realised that his expertise in this was far greater than he anticipated. The trade he was dealing with was with a niche market and he fathomed that he had no competitors. This strategy enabled him to grow rapidly within a short period of time. Soon his two brothers A.E. and S. Cave would join him along with his nephew Walter Cave.
They were the partners of what would be one of the biggest firms in Colombo for several decades. Caves had a wide array of books ranging from the genres of educational, comedy, fiction, non-fiction, travelogues, philosophy, romance, history etc. The books ranged from affordable rates to high-quality books with well-leathered covers and gilt-edged leaves. This is what Allister Macmillan commented on the bookstore:
“Civilisation has developed nothing of greater importance and influence than the multiplicity of its literature, and the stock of books and other reading matter kept at Messrs. H.W. Cave and Co. is an interesting and accurate index to public tastes and requirements in that condition” Apart from books, Caves were dealers of high-quality stationery and office equipment imported from Britain.
These goods such as filing cabinets, cash registers, adding machines, typewriters etc. were high in demand in Colombo as it was well known to achieve maximum results and efficiency over minimum labour. When it came to sporting goods such as athletics and gymnastic equipment, fishing tackle and billiard tables, Caves was second to none.
Cave and Co. had a wide range of silverware, watches, pictures, artists’ material, tobacco, as well as sundry items. The musical fraternity of this country cannot forget the exquisite kind of musical instruments imported from England. No firm in this country at that time had acquired such prominence for the fine pianos and organs. These devices were famous for being labelled ‘Suited to the climate of Ceylon’.
However, what Cave & Co. were outspokenly best at their printing works. Located in Slave Island the press used to run across 25,000 sq. ft. By 1926, the press had no fewer than 41 printing machines of various sizes. Cave’s printing was famous for its fine binding and revolutionary typesetting, which even in this digital age is hard to match. Apart from printing books for private clients and government contracts across all languages in Ceylon, the printing press was well known for printing picturesque colour postcards and photographs and millions of tea labels.
No one would have expected that a simple boy, who was the secretary of the ‘boy Bishop’ would be such a successful entrepreneur, hard to match. Set up in 1881,Cave’st was the most modern press in the subcontinent. It was well known for using the state-of-the-art photo-chemical reproduction facility. This was used for the first time in commercial purpose by Cave & Co. H.W. Cave employed the trained artist Barlow Moore to head the initial staff of 40 as the Chief Printing Manager.
While being the senior partner H.W. Cave died in 1913 and his brothers and nephew ran the firm well into 1920s. In 1926, it is known that the partners of the company were Messers. Bartlett, Brown, Dawkins and Wratten. In the 1950s this company which had by then had moved to the best area of the Gaffoor building, was acquired by the sons of F.J. Lucas Fernando Jr. After the 1960s, Cave & Co. declined and eventually closed its operations. This is history and hopefully a visionary as astute as H.W. Cave would create a similar enterprise in Sri Lanka.
“Flattery is hushed when Ceylon is the theme,
As mem’ry on mem’ries throng, her charms to tell!
Are there not witcheries that through beauty beam
Unspeakable? Yet, weaving such a spell
That limner, language, never can portray,
Though haunted by their magic power always.”
–Mrs. William Dent
References
Goonetilleke, H.A.I., (1970-77), Bibliography of Ceylon, Vols. 5,
Kularatne, Tilak, (2006), History of Printing and Publishing in Ceylon: 1736-1912, Dehiwala
Macmillan, Allister (ed), (1928), Seaports of India and Ceylon, W.H &L. Collingridge, London
Raheem, I and Colin-Thome, P, (2000), Images of British Ceylon: 19th Century Photography of Sri Lanka, Times Edition
Richard Boyle, (2001), ‘Through a Carriage Window with Cave’, Sunday Times
Uragoda, C.G., (2011), Authors of Books on Sri Lanka, 1796-1948, Volume 1,
West, John, (2014), Views of Ceylon, The Ceylon Study Circle
Wright, Arnold (ed), (1907), Twentieth Century Impressions of Ceylon, London
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 . )
US sports envoys to Lanka to champion youth development
Rahuman questions sudden cancellation of leave of CEB employees
