Features
Last flight of HS 121 Trident 1 ‘Papa India’ on 18 June 1972
AND IMPACT ON ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION
It is said that when two or three airline pilots gather together, they speak about the ‘four Ss – namely, Safety, Security, Seniority and Salary! In the sixties and seventies, British European Airways (BEA) was no different. Their local chapter would have been a member of the British AirLine Pilots’ Association (BALPA), which in turn was a founder member of the International Federation of Airline Pilot Associations (IFALPA) even recognised by the United Nations. These matters are discussed at length at various fora.
In those days, traditionally, there was quite a gap between the pay of senior pilots and juniors. These matters came up regularly for discussion. The British aviation authorities had realised, at the end of the 1950s, that soon they would be running short of Airline Captains who were mainly WWII veterans as they would retire 
soon. Therefore, a scheme was put in place to train captains at an airfield called Hamble, Hampshire (Hamble College of Air Training) with essentially two streams of recruitment from school leavers and graduates. Previous flying experience was not a requirement. The other main flying school which cadets were hired from was ‘Oxford’. The products of Hamble and Oxford were very good, efficient, militant and vociferous about pay and conditions. There was a difference of opinion between seniors who flew aircraft as a passion and the juniors who were more career-minded. That’s how the process of ‘industrial action’ was initiated by the latter.
Unlike their captains (of the ’old school’) who drifted into flying after WW II, the young pilots were trained to be airline captains of tomorrow. While they were well versed in theory of flight and leadership, they still lacked the all-important experience, which was still the domain of the senior captains.
On 18 of June 1972, a war veteran, and training captain, by the name of Stanley Key, on standby duties, was activated by BEA to fly to Brussels, Belgium, along with two young low-time Second Officers (S/Os). Capt. Key was an anti-strike activist, so well-known for his dissenting views that there was even graffiti on board some of the aircraft flight decks including that of ‘Papa India’, referring to him.
When Capt. Key reported for duty for flight BEA 548 (Radio call sign ‘Beeline 548), he was accosted by a militant, Senior F/O who was not a member of his crew, in the crowded Crew Room. With just four years before retirement (he was 51 years old at the time), his views against strike action were very strong. He is supposed to have got into a heated argument. This was witnessed by many including S/O J W Keighley, one of Capt Key’s crew members. It was also reported that Capt Key apologised for his outburst almost as quickly as it started. It is not certain whether S/O Ticehurst, Key’s other S/O, was also there. They were both flying with Capt. Key for the first time. The aggressive demonstration of the Captain’s feelings would have had some negative effect on the two young S/Os of his crew. It wasn’t a good first impression.
HS 121 Trident
The aircraft that they were flying that day was a HS 121 Trident 1 registered as G-ARPI, known by all at BEA, as ‘Papa India’, the phonetics of the last two letters. The Trident aircraft was well ahead of its time with a perfectly shaped wing for high speed flight at high altitude with engines at the rear and a ‘T shaped’ tail. In fact, it was the fastest civil jet plane before the advent of the Anglo French Concord! It could cruise at 90% the speed of sound. It could also carry out Instrument Landings in very low visibility–– even in fog as thick as pea soup! The Trident 1 was an aircraft designed to operate with the Captain seated on the left-hand side Flight Deck Seat and of the two S/O’s. Usually, one S/O, known as the ‘Monitoring Pilot’ operates the Flight Engineer’s Systems Panel located behind the two pilots outbound from London Heathrow while the other S/O would sit on the right-hand side seat with the controls. On the return (inbound) leg, the two S/O’s will swap seats and their functions. To operate the Flight Engineers Panel, the Monitoring Pilot had to undergo additional training under the watchful eye of a BEA Supervisory First Officer (F/O) (seated on a fourth seat behind the captain) until the trainee demonstrates competency and was ready to operate the panel by himself. Supervisory functions were additional duties for senior F/Os and because of the prevailing industrial action, they had opted to withdraw from these additional duties. As a direct result of that, there were S/Os who could carry out Right Hand Seat duties only and could not sit on the Monitoring S/O’s panel. Therefore, as far as Capt Key’s crew was concerned, the monitoring Pilot, S/O Ticehust though more experienced, could not relinquish his seat to the low-time S/O Keighley and had to be operating the panel on both outbound and inbound legs. Captains, if they had a choice, usually prefer to have the most experienced pilot in the co-pilot’s seat.
Because its wing was made for high-speed flight it had to be modified with the use of Leading Edge and Trailing Edge high lift devices enabling it to fly low and slow for take-off and landing. At the trailing end of the wing there were the flaps which in effect increased the area of the wing. In the leading edge were devices called ‘Wing Droops’, which, when extended, altered the curvature of the wing and smoothened out the airflow over the wing allowing it to fly at a relatively slow speed.
That afternoon, along with Capt. Key, and his junior two crew members, there was also a Capt. Collins, a freighter Captain, occupying the fourth seat in the Flight Deck. While the weather was overcast at a thousand feet, to witnesses all seemed normal on BEA 548 on the taxi, start up and take off from London, Heathrow, in a 
westerly direction. Then it commenced a left turn to an East bound heading as required by the departure procedure. Then, suddenly the aircraft which was supposed to climb to 6000 ft, started losing height and crashed in a nose high attitude with hardly any forward motion. It was obvious to the investigators that the aircraft had fallen out of the sky, killing all six crew and 112 passengers on board. This was all within two and a half minutes after brakes release.
A small boy, at Stains, witnessed the accident and informed a neighbour, a retired nurse who was the first to be at the scene. She found only one person alive who sadly died a while later.
Immediately after arriving on the scene the accident investigators from the Accident Investigation Branch (AIB) of the Board of Trade, realised that the Trident aircraft had descended on a steep trajectory as it had cleared some high tension wires before impacting the ground a few yards away and didn’t move forward.
The Accident Investigators had the luxury of using two Flight Data Recorders which were installed on board.
The wreck of ‘Papa India’ was carefully moved piece by piece to a Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) hangar at Farnborough airport in Hampshire, assembled, thoroughly examined and mechanical failure ruled out.
Noise Abatement Departures
Because of noise considerations, in the neighbourhood outside the airport, it was a mandatory requirement that Trident Jets climb at Take-off Power to as high as possible with the wheels selected up, wing droops extended and trailing edge flaps selected to 20 degrees, within the airport premises. Then at 90 seconds after brakes released, they had to reduce engine power and retract the trailing edge flaps and then climb to 3000 ft before the Wing Droops were to be retracted after achieving 225 kt. climbing speed. There were two separate leavers to control the Flaps and the Wing Droops.
On analysing the Flight Data Recorders which were in good working order, the investigators discovered that one of the four crew members (Capt Key, S/O Keighley. S/O Ticehurst or Capt Collins) had prematurely retracted the leading edge Wing Droops, before reaching 3000 ft and 225 kt. When the Wing Droops were retracted, the control columns of both Key’s and Keighley’s mechanically shook (vibrated) to give tactile warning that the aircraft is about to stall. No corrective action was taken like re-extending the Wing Droops or increasing speed by the pilots, an automatic pneumatically operated stick pusher activated, sharply reducing the nose-up attitude. In fact, the investigators found that it had happened twice and then someone had deactivated the stall warning (Stick Shaker and Pusher) system. By whom and with what intention, was a mystery. Because the Stick Shaker and the Stick Pusher activated in quick succession someone could have assumed that the system was malfunctioning. The aircraft then entered a deep stall from which it was impossible to recover as there is no airflow over the tail to enable the pilot to push the nose down, by then a well-known phenomenon in ‘T’ tail aircraft. (On 3 June 1966, Trident 1C registration G-ARPY entered into a deep stall while on a test flight and crashed at Felthorpe, Norfolk, killing all four crew members)
How the airflow over the tail of a Trident Aircraft gets disturbed by the wing, at high nose-up attitude and develops into an unrecoverable Deep Stall. The Blue arrow is the relative flow of the air. (See figure 1)
The post mortem examination of three of the four crew members proved to be normal while Capt Key’s heart was found to be in bad shape through the years and was experiencing a heart attack just before his violent death. Was it due to the argument he had with the senior F/O about 90 minutes before his flight and the resultant rise in blood pressure? How was he classified as ‘fit to fly’, after a seemingly normal Electrocardiogram (ECG) at his last Medical Examination a few months before for renewal of his flying licence? Did the Captain’s heart attack create a distraction to the rest of the crew? Was the Captain obviously incapacitated for the others to see? The last radio call from the Air Traffic Controller was acknowledged by him. Was it a case of subtle incapacitation then? Why didn’t S/O Keighley take over and fly as he was supposed to do? Was he confused as regards the flaps and Wing Droops control handles? Was the ‘intra cockpit authority gradient’ between Capt Key and S/O J W Keighley too steep and made the 22-year-old S/O freeze at the controls? Why didn’t S/O Ticehurst do or say anything? Did Capt. Collins, who was also an experienced Trident Pilot, do or say anything to help? A host of questions needed to be answered.
Geoffrey Lane the Commissioner of the Public Inquiry to this unfortunate accident in his report stated, “There is a danger of assuming that we have all the facts before us and that the only problem is to assemble them in the right order. Had we had the benefit of a cockpit voice-recorder this might have been true. As it were there may well be some vital piece of information missing which would, if known, change the whole picture”
The report went on to state, “This accident has shown that data as to the height, speed, attitude and movement of controls of the aircraft, however valuable as eliminating any suggestion of mechanical failure, do not always provide as full a picture as possible. The investigator is still left in the dark as to what was passing between the crew members by way of orders, comment or exclamation.”
Within a year of the Accident Investigation Report going public, the UK Board of Trade mandated that all turbine powered in the UK registered civil aircraft above the weight of 5700 kg shall have Cockpit Voice Recorders (CVRs). Australia and America were already using Cockpit Voice Recorders. The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) also followed suit. Hawker Sidley, the manufacturer of the HS 121 Trident also installed a speed lock to prevent the Wing Droops being retracted below 225Kt. The Trident was the first British aircraft with leading edge high lift devices. Similar American Aircraft, like the more successful Boeing 727, had only one Flap/Slat handle to control all leading edge and trailing edge device eliminating confusion. There were allegations that the original ‘tri jet’ concept was stolen by the Americans. But that’s another story!
The Boeing 727 with another type leading edge (Kruger) Flaps out (different to Trident Wing Droops).
It was also pointed out by the Report that BEA Technical Crew had neither been briefed nor trained on handling incapacitated crew members at critical stages of the flight.
The report also highlighted that the ECGs for pilot licence medical examinations should not be carried out on pilots at rest only (in bed), but regular Stress ECGs should also be carried out. The critics say that Capt. Stanley Key’s heart condition was a one-off case. We are medically examining Airline Pilots and not Astronauts! The retirement age for pilots is now 65 years, the last five years of which includes, ‘Blood work’ and stress ECGs amongst other routine medical tests.
Flight BEA 548 was the deadliest plane crash on the British soil until the Pan Am crash in Lockerbie Scotland.
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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