Features
Huge increase in carbon storage in forests inhabited by elephants: elephant scientists
by ifham Nizam
Pictures courtesy Dilmah Conservation
Dr. Sumith Pilapitiya, Elephant Pathologist, former Lead Environmental Specialist at the World Bank and former Director General of the Department of Wildlife Conservation, speaking to The Island stressed that in the study undertaken by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Africa, it was determined that each elephant was responsible for a carbon sequestration service of USD 1.75 million during the elephant’s 60 year life-span.
“This shows that the benefits from a healthy and thriving elephant population is substantial. This is a revolutionary approach for valuing the natural capital of a country so that it could be brought to the market for carbon trading.
Species sequestration of carbon is a brand-new field. The actual carbon sequestration value of a Sri Lankan elephant needs to be determined through a study undertaken in Sri Lanka, but this is fully worth exploring. However, if this is feasible, the Government should ensure that these funds should be exclusively for the benefit of communities affected by Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC). This is another way in getting HEC affected communities to see elephants as an economic asset to them.”
Excerpts of the interview
The Island: Dr. You are in the opinion that thick forests don’t suit elephants, please elaborate?
Dr: Most people are of the opinion that thick forest is good for elephants. But that is not accurate. Thick forests are largely primary and secondary forests and these forests are not very suitable elephant habitat. Studies conducted in Sri Lanka and India show that in primary and secondary forests, the elephant density is around 0.2 elephants per square kilometer—which means that each elephant needs around 500 ha of such forests to forage in. This is because such forests have a closed canopy overhead and due to insufficient sunlight penetration, there is no grass growing on the ground. While the tall trees have greenery, even elephants can feed only up to the height that their trunks reach. The greenery above that is not accessible to them. That is why studies have shown such a low density of elephants in primary and secondary forests.
Whereas, in scrub jungle, grasslands and Chena after-growth, the fodder is fully accessible to elephants. Therefore studies have shown that the elephant density in such habitat is around 3 elephants per square kilometer—which means that each elephant needs around 33 ha in such habitat to forage in.
This is why I say that thick forest is not suitable elephant habitat when compared with scrub and grasslands.
Q: Are you happy with the elephants conditions in the Udawalwe National Park
Dr: Nobody who has eyes can be happy with the condition of elephants in Uda Walawe National Park. The body condition of elephants in Uda Walawe National Park is very poor, especially among the adult females, juveniles and calves. The adult males that are residents, who don’t leave the confines of Uda Walawe National Park are also in poor condition, but not as bad the herds. The adult male elephants we see who are in good body condition are largely elephants who supplement their diet through crop raiding which takes place outside the park.
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- Dr. Sumith Pilapitiya and Dilmah Ceylon Tea Chairman Dilhan C Fernando at the ribbon cutting ceremony at the Elephant Knowledge Walk Centre. Also in the picture National Zoological Gardens Director General Ranjan Marasinghe and Biodiversity Sri Lanka Senior Advisor Shiranee Yasaratne
Q: What are your recommendations to the authorities
Dr: When Uda Walawe National Park was declared a park in the early 1970s, there were large tracts of Chena land that was included. Abandoned Chena land is excellent elephant habitat. That is why until about 15 years ago, Uda Walawe National Park had a large population of elephants who were in good body condition. But if there is no human intervention to manage the habitat to be suitable to support the large population of elephants and we let nature take its course, through biological succession the habitat gets transformed from grasslands, which was a feature in Uda WalQawe, it will naturally and gradually return to forest. That is the process that is going on in Uda Walawe now. This process of biological succession makes the habitat more and more unsuitable for elephants. Then the elephants slowly but gradually die of starvation or leave the national park. If we want to retain elephants within Uda Walawe National Park, humans have to intervene in this biological succession process and ensure that the habitat is such that it is suitable to support the elephant population of Uda Walawe National Park. This has not been done.
During the early years of biological succession, controlled burning can be used to prevent the succession. Now it is much more complicated to address. Invasive species which are not palatable to elephants and other herbivores has taken over most of the old grasslands, further reducing the fodder availability. As I am not an expert on habitat management, I strongly recommend that the authorities get the expertise of ecologists and botanists—there are some top experts in Sri Lanka–and implement a program to restore the ecosystem to be more suitable for elephants. This should be given the highest priority in my opinion, particularly when one sees the condition of elephants in Uda Walawe.
Q: On Cattle grazing in the Park…there were decisions taken decades back to put an end, what happened
Dr: The Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) has tried for many years to stop illegal cattle grazing inside Uda Walawe and virtually all National Parks in the country. Decisions were taken decades ago (and many times subsequent to the early decisions) to put an end to illegal cattle grazing inside National Parks. There is only one reason and one reason only that this has not been possible for decades. IT IS POLITICAL INTERFERENCE! Whenever the DWC tries to remove cattle from the National Parks, the cattle herders and owners go their politicians and the politicians put pressure on DWC to stop the eviction program. Basically these politicians, including Cabinet Ministers and even recent Presidents have been instructing DWC NOT to evict cattle from the National Parks. Basically, all these politicians are supporting an illegal activity inside National Parks—however, I am sure nobody is surprised to hear that. So as long as people vote and wildlife don’t, illegal cattle grazing will continue!
Q: On Elephant policies, You had discussions with President Wickremesinghe, what’s the outcome
Dr: President Gotabhaya Rajapakse appointed a Presidential Committee in the middle of 2020 to prepare a National Action Plan (NAP) for Human Elephant Conflict (HEC) Mitigation. This Presidential Committee was chaired by Dr. Pritiviraj Fernando, who is Sri Lanka’s top expert on HEC and Elephants. This is the first time an eminent expert was appointed to chair a committee to prepare a NAP for HEC Mitigation. The committee comprised of the key stakeholders and I was also a member of the committee. It was good that President Gotabhaya appointed a Presidential Committee to prepare a NAP, giving HEC Mitigation to the priority it deserves. Unfortunately, no action was taken to implement the NAP, since 2020.
In November 2022, President Ranil Wickremasinghe appointed a Presidential Committee to “facilitate and oversee” the implementation of the NAP for HEC Mitigation, as implementation is the responsibility of different GOSL agencies. Since coordination among Government agencies is not the best in Sri Lanka, a Presidential Committee for facilitation and oversight of implementation of the NAP was needed. While most other politicians would have appointed a new committee to prepare another NAP for HEC Mitigation, rather than use the NAP prepared under a previous President, rather than wasting more time, President Wickremasinghe wanted the NAP prepared in 2020 to be implemented.
The NAP is being implemented at present but at a slower pace due to a lack of proper budgetary allocations due to the economic crisis in the country. But we have been able to use fund under existing World Bank and Asian Development Bank to commence the implementation of the NAP. The first six to eight months was spent by the Presidential Committee in ensuring that the proper institutional arrangements are in place to implement the activities identified in the NAP. Institutional arrangements for implementation are critical for the sustainability of any program. That is why the emphasis was on the institutional arrangements. Over the last 6 months field activities have been initiated in the Kurunegala, Anuradhapura and Puttalam Districts. With additional funding, the program can be expanded to the other Districts in the future.
Q: Your thoughts on elephants and economics/ Villagers could gain financially if elephants are looked after in the right way, your thoughts
Dr: Elephant conservation is possible only if the general public of the country wants to conserve elephants, particularly the communities that have to face HEC on a daily basis. Right now, elephants are only an economic liability to the local communities sharing their landscape with elephants. That is why we have so many elephants being killed every year due to HEC. Our objective should be to convert elephants from an economic liability to an economic asset to the local communities sharing the landscape with elephants. The day that happens, there will be coexistence between humans and elephants.
The challenge is how we convert elephants from an economic liability to an economic asset. It is globally accepted that sustainability of wildlife in protected areas depends on the local community benefitting from wildlife and the protected areas. Countries like Nepal have established “buffer zone funds” where a certain percentage from wildlife tourism revenue is directed into buffer zone funds to help the communities most affected by human wildlife conflict and for local community development work. Since we have a majority of the elephants ranging outside DWC protected areas, in selected locations we could try to develop community based elephant viewing tourism, where local communities, mainly the farmer organizations should be involved in it so that elephants become a source of income to them. This may not be applicable all over the country, but could work along tourist routes and near tourist hotels.
Based on studies undertaken on African Forest Elephants by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), it was found that elephants contribute towards carbon sequestration which could be of tremendous social and market value. As it turns out, elephants fight climate change by contributing significantly to natural carbon capture through an extraordinary way. During the time that elephants spend in the forest and forage for food, they thin out young trees that are competing for space, water and light by reducing the density of vegetation within the forest. The larger trees that are left untouched have better access to water and light and grow taller and larger than other trees in the forest. Elephants roaming within forests promote the growth of larger, taller trees. These trees, biologically known to be late-succession trees, store more carbon in their biomass than the younger trees consumed by elephants, had they been allowed to grow as well. Thus elephants actually increase the amount of carbon stored in the trees of the forest, compared to forests without elephants. The increase in carbon storage in forests inhabited by elephants is huge—as well as valuable. In the study undertaken by the IMF in Africa, it was determined that each elephant was responsible for a carbon sequestration service of USD 1.75 million during the elephant’s 60 year life-span. This shows that the benefits from a healthy and thriving elephant population is substantial. This is a revolutionary approach for valuing the natural capital of a country so that it could be brought to the market for carbon trading. Species sequestration of carbon is a brand new field. The actual carbon sequestration value of a Sri Lankan elephant needs to be determined through a study undertaken in Sri Lanka, but this is fully worth exploring. However, if this is feasible, the Government should ensure that these funds should be exclusively for the benefit of communities affected by HEC. This is another way in getting HEC affected communities to see elephants as an economic asset to them.
Q:I understand you are in the process of writing a book on elephants for the common man, please elaborate
Dr:(I am not in the process of writing a book yet, maybe later)
I am involved in elephant behavior research because that is my passion. I have always wanted to do such research because I feel that the more we understand elephants, the better we will be able to conserve and manage elephants. As I sated earlier, elephants in Sri Lanka will be conserved only if the general public of the country are interested in conserving elephants. If the public, especially the communities affected by HEC see elephants as an economic asset, they will want elephants conserved.
So, I am very interested in working towards convincing local communities to want to coexist with elephants. So any publications I work on should be geared towards that objective. For that purpose, publications aimed at the lay person is more important than scientific publications. That is what I hope I will be able to do.
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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