Features
HOTEL MANAGER AT AGE 25 – Part 38
CONFESSIONS OF A GLOBAL GYPSY
By Dr. Chandana (Chandi) Jayawardena DPhil
President – Chandi J. Associates Inc. Consulting, Canada
Founder & Administrator – Global Hospitality Forum
chandij@sympatico.ca
Preparations to Hand Over
Towards the end of 1978, my employer, Walkers Tours/John Keells Holdings Group confirmed that I would be promoted to the Manager of their Hotel Swanee, Moragalla, Beruwala on February 1, 1979. They further confirmed that as soon as I moved to Hotel Swanee (which was a short drive from Hotel Ceysands), I would continue to manage the Food and Beverage operations and kitchens of Ceysands until the tourist season ended around early April, 1979.
I was happy to do both jobs for a short period of time. However, I was hopeful that my successor, particularly a new Executive Chef, would be appointed for Ceysands sooner than later. I was keen to do a professional hand over and help with an orientation for my successor.
During my last couple of months at Ceysands I focused mainly on training and developing the kitchen, restaurant and bar teams. For the 1978/1979 tourist season, the hotel needed around 12 new food and beverage servers. I recruited 24 young persons without any experience in the hotel industry mainly from nearby towns and villages. I used the current employees to spread the word around to their friends that Ceysands was a great employer. They were recruited as temporary trainees for a period of one month. They were paid minimum wages and provided with meals. All that was required of them was to attend the practical training that I conducted with the restaurant supervisors as my co-trainers.
On the first day, the trainees were informed that there would be practical tests held during the last week of their training period and only the top 12 trainees would be offered jobs. That competitive incentive made the initiative extremely successful. Basic English, German and French terms that were used in hotels were also included as a part of the curriculum. We arranged for continuous on the job training to the successful 12 trainees.
The most effective elements in this training and development program were the opportunities we provided for the new trainees to shadow more experienced servers. Learning through peers was powerful as long as the peers had learned the right skills and had some on the job training skills. To my great delight, some of the new trainees progressed well in the hotel industry. They developed quickly and became operational supervisors and managers within a few years. In the hospitality industry, employees with the right attitude and the basic skills training could progress rapidly without any formal certifications.
Preparations to Take Over
Well before starting the new job I focused on getting a better understanding of the culture, ownership, structure, concept, strengths, weaknesses, challenges and opportunities of Hotel Swanee. When I was a student of the Ceylon Hotel School four and half years ago in 1974, I was actually present at the opening ceremony of Hotel Swanee. It was an advantage that I knew the colleague who took over the management of the hotel on behalf of Walkers Tours in 1975, Jayantha Silva and the outgoing manager, Ratana Lawrence.
Hotel Swanee wasn’t a well-planned and developed hotel. However, when Walkers Tours took over the hotel, they wisely invested in major upgrades for the hotel soon after the opening. They hired respected professionals such as Major Bevis Bawa, arguably the best landscape architect of Sri Lanka, to upgrade and maintain the landscaping. As the first hotel to be managed by Walkers Tours/JKH, it was also an important learning journey for the group who eventually became the largest hotel operator in Sri Lanka. At the age of 25, I was proud to be identified as the new Manager. I was determined to raise the hotel’s standards, reputation and increase profits to a new level.
The majority of the rooms of Hotel Swanee were on the ground floor, except for ten rooms that were on the second floor of a new wing completed just before I was transferred. The open concept with a large seafront garden in the middle of the room wings and the front garden were beautiful. The key challenge was that the hotel was right in the middle of a small but a notorious village called Moragalla. The managers before me had a series of major problems with a few toughs from the village.
Prior to leaving for my new job at Hotel Swanee, Captain D. A. Wickramasinghe (Wicks), the General Manager of Hotel Ceysands gave me some useful advice. I felt that he did so not only as my previous boss, but also as my intended father-in-law. I was treated like the son he never had. He even started calling me by my nickname, given to me by his teenage daughter. “Chandi, you have done wonders at Ceysands, but one area you must improve in is public speaking and public relations (PR). Try to develop these skills to build up your confidence.”
I took that advice very seriously and made a big effort to improve my public speaking, PR and understanding of marketing. In later years, I became a graduate of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) in the UK, read for an MPhil/PhD in International Hotel Marketing at the University of Surrey, UK, and then became a university professor and a popular keynote speaker. Those made Captain Wicks very proud. He used to say jokingly, “Chandi learnt all this PR from me!” with a big smile. Captain Wicks was a good man.
Understanding a Violent Culture
I learnt more about the Moragalla village culture and its high crime rate from my peer, the new Assistant Manager of Hotel Ceysands, Sanath Kumarasinghe. He had previously worked as the Assistant Manager of one of the Aitken Spence hotels, Pearl Beach, which adjoined Hotel Swanee. Sanath and the manager of that hotel, veteran hotelier Stylo Aha, were exposed to some unpleasant incidents caused by the village thugs. I introduced myself to Stylo and sought his advice.
Morogalla and the rest of Beruwala area had a strange relationship with hotels since the early 1970s. There were a dozen competing local thugs who claimed one hotel per thug as territory. It was like territories controlled by the five Mafia families in New York during the heyday of organized crime. For example, Rathu Aiyya was the thug in charge of Palm Gardens Hotel, the area of Confifi Hotel was controlled by Rathu Peter and Nimal was the thug in charge of the area of Hotel Neptune. Basically, these thugs believed that the management, employees, security guards and suppliers were under obligation to show them respect, do favours and sometimes pay protection money.
Other thugs Abey, Goulding alias King and Newton controlled sections of the beach. They had a system to book the tourists as they walk towards the beach. It was done in a very organized manner. Once one beach boy booked a tourist no other beach boy could approach that tourist. Beach boys paid a percentage of their earnings to the thugs as protection money. Gradually as more hotels were built in Beruwala area the number of beach boys neared 1,000. This beach boy “tout menace” was a major problem for tourism in Sri Lanka.
The toughest thug, Solomon Mudalali was in charge of the area surrounding Hotel Swanee and Solomon’s elder son, Shantha, an army deserter, was like the Mafia underboss. I had heard that Solomon and Shantha had some major conflicts with the previous manager of Hotel Swane resulting in Solomon, Shantha and their tourist van to be prohibited from entering Hotel Swanee property. They were targeting attacking the Manager if and when he stepped outside the hotel gate.
These thugs controlled the areas where the hotels were built and the access to the hotels from Galle Road. Generally, they were not that violent during daytime, unless someone challenged their authority or disrespected them. Evenings were a different story, as hotels generally prohibited the locals access to hotel bars after sunset. Some of these thugs in the evenings acted like lions. Their Dutch courage resulted from consuming kassipu locally distilled under the protection of the thugs.
Over the years some thugs were eliminated by rival gangs and new leaders emerged. In later years, a new generation of leaders bearing some “funny” nicknames such as Kakka, Raththaran, Ibba, Sudu malli, and Mutgumuni were crowned as the new territorial bosses. Some who were able to survive the rivalry and sustain their power for a long period of time and even became rich businessmen and politicians.
I was happy to note that there was an up-and-coming thug aiming to take control of the Hotel Swanee area. His nickname was Milk Board Mudalai as he operated a tourist taxi from a nearby milk board outlet. He had the reputation of being unpredictable when angry. He was a rival to Solomon’s authority. They were both scared of each other. I was thinking of the good old strategy that worked well for the colonial invaders, “divide and rule!”
When Captain Wicks heard of my creative ideas of dealing with the village problems in my new workplace and residence, he wasn’t happy. Just before I left Hotel Ceysands on February 1, 1979, he gave me one more piece of advice. “Chandi, in dealing with these thugs, show that you are tough, but never practice your toughness. For heaven’s sake, no Judo fight challenges! They will shoot and kill you.” I detected the nervousness in his voice. I smiled but made a mental note to take his advice seriously.
Action on My First Day
Owing to threats and challenges from Solomon, my predecessor had already left the hotel discreetly. Therefore, one of the senior Directors of Walkers Tours, Mr. Norman Impett, accompanied me to Hotel Swanee. After showing me to my office and the manager’s apartment by the swimming pool and seaside, he introduced me to the management team of five and the manager’s personal secretary.
He then said, “Chandana, take care. This is a tough hotel to manage, but I think that you will do well here. All the best!” He hurried away and I was left in charge. I was thinking of what action I should focus on first on my first day. I decided to take the bull by the horns in dealing with the main problem of the hotel.
I called Gamini Soyza, the Restaurant & Bar Manager to my office. Based on my earlier research, I knew that Gamini was a nephew of the medical doctor turned businessman and politician, Dr. Neville Fernando, who had built the hotel. Having worked at the hotel from its inception, Gamini knew the area well. “Do you know where Solomon Silva lives?” I asked Gamini. When he nervously said that he did, I told him, “Please go tell him that the new hotel manager would like to have a chat with him as soon as possible, ideally this morning”. Within 10 minutes Solomon showed up at my office with a loud bang on the door.
I welcomed him in Sinhala, “Āyubūvan Mudalali, thank you for coming to see me at such short notice. Please take a seat”. I pointed to a chair in front of my desk and closed the door. Instead of sitting behind my desk, I sat next to Solomon. Then there was a short period of silence while we looked at each other trying to get the hang of each other as we had never met before. Solomon was about twice my age and I guessed that he was around 50. He was dressed in a white shirt and a white sarong. He had a slight stammer and was curious about my intentions.
I told him that I knew of the past conflicts he had with my predecessors, but indicated that I wished to have a good rapport with important leaders of the village like him. I encouraged him to talk about his family and business interests. Within 30 minutes I learnt a lot about Solomon. His late father had been a well to do person owning a few fishing boats and a toddy tapping business. Due to a drinking and gambling addiction, his father had sold some of his seafront land at a low price to the developer of Hotel Swanee.
“You mean, this land would have been yours?” I inquired. He said, “Yes” and became a little emotional. He explained how he felt deeply insulted when he, the son of the previous owner of the property, and his van were barred from entering the land now owned and developed by rich outsiders. “I hated it when my fellow villagers laughed at me behind my back. Respect is very important to me” he confessed.
A Negotiated Settlement
When I asked Solomon what is his main business was, he said, “Tourism.” He told me that he made a living mainly by arranging tours around Sri Lanka for the guests of Hotel Swanee. Then I asked him to bring his tour van and show it to me. It was a reconditioned Toyota HiAce, but kept clean and tidy. At the end of our discussion, I gave him permission to park his van in the car park inside the hotel premises.
I called the hotel Maintenance Engineer who looked baffled and uncomfortable, when I instructed him to immediately get a prominent sign board painted and have it hung near the front office. It displayed the registration number of the van and confirmed that “Mr. K. Solomon Silva was the owner and driver of the vehicle. It was authorized by the Management of Hotel Swanee for tours of our guests.”
With that single gesture, Solomon became my biggest fan in Moragalla. He was very happy that the new manager had shown him respect and helped his reputation and business, all in one day. At that point I told him, “Solomon Mudalai, this is not free. You need to pay the hotel a monthly fee.” He looked somewhat surprised. I wanted to signal that the arrangement was not for protection’s sake but a business deal. We negotiated immediately and agreed on a reasonable fee. I then called the hotel’s Chief Accountant and asked him to draw up a contract and ensure that the money was collected on the first of each month.
After Solomon and I signed the contract, I told him that now he needed to do me a favour. I sought his help in getting the locals to leave the bars by 7:00 pm every day. We agreed and during my term as the Manager of Hotel Swanee, all villagers left the bar and hotel premises obediently and promptly on or before 7:00 pm, with one exception. Solomon usually overstayed by about 30 minutes to show all the other villagers that he was special. I turned a blind eye to that. I clearly understood his action and decided “not to sweat over the small stuff.”
Before Solomon left, I took a quick walk with him through the hotel garden and walked on the beach. Hotel employees as well as the beach boys/touts were surprised to see us together. After that we shook hands and agreed to keep in touch if the hotel ever had any village problems. My success on day one built up my confidence.
Getting Ready for the Next Steps…
Often newly promoted unit managers in any business tend to learn from previous best practices and follow the norms. Going with the flow is the safest and easiest. In my case I decided to be different instead of copying others. I needed a free hand to build an innovative management team aligned with my vision.
The next step was to focus on preparing for my first-ever public speech. I fixed a day to address the 100-member employee team within my first week at Hotel Swanee. Before that I got to get to know the five managers and senior supervisors in one-to-one meetings. I also wanted to meet the union leaders, West German tour leaders, all the repeat and long stay guests. More fun next week…
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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