Features
Mastering Showbiz … Moving to Bigger Productions
CONFESSIONS OF A GLOBAL GYPSY
Dr. Chandana (Chandi) Jayawardena DPhil
President – Chandi J. Associates Inc. Consulting, Canada
Founder & Administrator – Global Hospitality Forum
chandij@sympatico.ca
Action Learning Showbiz
I learned to produce music shows with 1,000+ audiences with help from musicians under contract at Le Galadari Meridien. This spiced up my work as the hotel’s Director of Food and Beverage. Thanks to great team work by the musicians on contract at the hotel, the first three shows I produced in 1987 were ‘Musical Stars of 1986’, ‘A Farewell to Priyanthi & Raja’ and ‘Noeline… a Celebration’. All were very successful in terms of production, audience satisfaction, ticket sales, profits, reviews and publicity.
We commenced all our shows precisely at 7:00 pm as advertised. Given the ‘fashionably late’ culture of some Sri Lankan senior politicians and socialites, it wasn’t easy to achieve that goal. We announced the starting time during ticket sales and closed the doors exactly at 7:00 pm as each show began. Latecomers were asked to stand outside the hall and no excuses were accepted, irrespective of how important they were.
I felt that allowing latecomers to go into the hall in the dark, while musicians were performing was an insult to the performers and a disturbance to the punctual customers. After the choreographed opening act was over, we opened the doors to let the latecomers into the ballroom around 7:20 pm, for five minutes. Soon our customers got used to our strict standard of punctuality.
After making sure the opening act commenced promptly, I handed over the baton to Kenneth Honter, my reliable wingman and efficient Stage Manager in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He was a pleasure to work with and the musicians respected him. Kenneth had the knowledge and ideal personality for that honorary job. After I left Sri Lanka permanently in the early 1994, I found equally capable Stage Managers to team up with me in Guyana and Jamaica.
Over the years, I produced at least two dozen shows at Le Galadari Meridien in Colombo, Hotel Babylon Oberoi in Baghdad, Mount Lavinia Hotel, BMICH – National Convention Centre of Sri Lanka, Guyana Pegasus Hotel and Le Meridien Jamaica Pegasus Hotel. At most of those shows I was able to watch the show in the audience, after removing my ‘Producer’ hat for two and half hours. Empowerment and delegation of duties to capable members of the team is important in any operation or show.
An interesting theme, great line-up of performers, creative promotions, a well-planned cue sheet and a good stage manager are essential ingredients for a successful show. In addition, good choreography, sound, lighting, special effects and seamless set changes, all enhanced the overall quality of the stage productions. I was not an expert in any of that, but surrounded myself with experts. My main contributions were developing a good concept with input from the team of performers and then preparing a detailed cue sheet, in consultation with the stage manager. I also handled the promotions and general coordination with different departments of the hotel.
Gala Balls – for Staff and for Customers
One of the key reasons for some mistakes I made in my career stemmed from being overly-ambitious, over-optimistic and undertaking many concurrent projects. Therefore, although I was eager to produce more shows in 1987, I decided to postpone such projects to 1988. Instead, I focused on organizing two gala balls aiming at breaking some records.
In whatever business one is in, it is essential to keep the internal customer (the employees) happy. I had 230 employees in my division who worked very hard year-round. I wanted to thank them in a different manner. We discussed the possibility of organizing a large-scale formal dinner dance for the employee team and their spouses or partners.
My contribution for the employee dinner dance was a couple of negotiations to start the planning. The hotel bands kindly agreed to perform free for the staff dance. The suppliers of spirits and wines were more than generous in their donations in cash and kind. We were also given a few free airline tickets for overseas destinations, which the committee used as door prizes. I empowered an employee committee who did all the work. The committee wanted to maintain good standards and recommended lounge suit as the dress code.
I then convinced the organizing committee that it is best that we hold the staff dance at another hotel. It was important for discipline. I negotiated very special rates with my counterparts in other five-star international hotels. In 1987, we held the Food and Beverage employee dance at Hotel Ceylon InterContinential and in 1988, we held it at Hotel Taj Samudra. Both events were well-attended with over 500 people per dance, highly enjoyable and broke even. That initiative was a good motivator internally and trend setter externally. Soon our competitors organized similar dances for their employees.
I used the boosted energy and the team spirit of our highly motivated, employee team after their dinner dance, to plan the best three New Year’s Eve dances for customers. We held these at the Bougainville Ballroom, La Palme D’or French Restaurant and Colombo 2000 Night Club. We also arranged for lobby musicians to entertain diners at the La Brasserie Coffee Shop. In addition to selling tickets at the La Patisserie Pastry Shop, we also had the table plan right in the middle of the hotel lobby, with a charming hostess selling ten tickets per table.
Each dance had a permanent band and a compere, but we featured the lead singers from each band on short guest spots in other venues within the hotel. That way, we enhanced the line-up of performers at each dance. The customers liked it. Usually, the New Year’s Eve dinner dances at the ballrooms of five-star international hotels were the largest and most profitable.
“Sri Lankan hotels have never priced a dinner dance at a ballroom at higher than Rs. 900. No one dares to break that Rs. 1,000 barrier”, Sohan Weerasinghe, the leader of our main band told me. When I heard that, I said, “We have the best products in terms of the ballroom, food, service and music. Let’s be the first in Sri Lanka to charge Rs. 1,000!” As Sohan appeared to be nervous, I said that I would double our advertising campaign.
Most hotels had crowded ads with too much information of full menus, free bottles of whisky per table, ticket prizes, list of musicians, compere’s names etc. etc. all in one ad. “These are boring ads with too much detail and too many words! I will work with the ad agency to develop a campaign with a key ad with only one photo and one short slogan”, I told Sohan. When he asked me, “Really? Would it work? Who will be in that one photo?”, I told him, “One photo with our unique selling proposition – you and the other lead singers of different bands!” And that’s exactly what we did.
We sold out all tickets for our expensive New Year’s Eve dinner dance within a week. We broke the Rs. 1,000 barrier, as well as all records for attendance, revenue and profit that night. In the early hours of January 1, my wife and I visited all dinner dances at competitor five-star hotels very briefly to get a snap-shot idea of attendance, themes, and products. That quick competitor research helped in our planning for next year’s New Year’s Eve dinner dances. This is something I practised until 1998 when I left the hotel industry to become a full-time, post-secondary educator.
A nice thing about hoteliering is that in every country I worked, we had a friendly relationship with the competitors. All of them were extremely hospitable to me during my sneaky ‘competitor research’ visits, some evenopening a bottle of champagne to welcome my wife and I to their dinner dances. I always wondered at their rationale for not doing that type of first-hand fact finding, I did at their hotels.
International Musicians
In early 1988, we were fortunate to get some unique opportunities to feature international musicians in our food and beverage outlets and in the ballroom. Le Meridien introduced the concept of Parisian café-théâtre to Colombo. These events were mostly unconventional, ranging from ordinary theatrical presentations to singing tours, jazz concerts and improvisational theatre. My division organized these events with three course menus and matching wines, served before each show commenced. Soon after the dessert, coffee, chocolates/petit fours and Cognac were served, the employees left the ballroom, lights dimmed and the show began.
We initially featured French classical musicians and mini-French plays partly sponsored by Alliance Française de Colombo. Later we expanded these events to feature British pianists sponsored by the British Council and concerts with German musicians sponsored by the German Cultural Institute in Colombo.
For one of our special weeks – New Orleans Food and Jazz Festival, we arranged for a jazz band to arrive all the way from Le Meridien New Orleans, USA. We also featured a Singaporean pop singer and provided exposure to a well-known Maldivian band, at Colombo 2000. With these added attractions, Le Galadari Meridien became the Mecca of international and the western music scene of Colombo, in the late 1980s.
Invitations to Produce Mega Shows
After our success with the three shows in 1987, two big dinner dances and many events with international musicians, Le Galadari Meridien received very useful publicity in the local media. While all hotels liked to get publicity, very few created newsworthy stories. I quickly learnt that the media likes uniqueness and the general public prefers to read fun stories. In early 1988, I received three invitations from three unique showbiz personalities of Sri Lanka for me to lead three large stage productions. Each one called me and then came to the Rendezvous Lobby Bar to have a one-on-one chat over a drink. I went ahead with only one proposal.
Erin De Selfa was a charming lady in her early sixties. I had heard that she was a well-known singer who also acted in a few British movies. During its peak, the Mascarilla Night Club at the Galle Face Hotel was a nightly packed affair with audiences waiting to catch Erin De Selfa’s two daily shows. She was a good conversationalist and I enjoyed listening to her interesting travel stories. She spoke about her singing stint at the famous Taj Mahal Hotel in Bombay and her cabaret acts in other key cities in India and other countries.
I felt honoured when Erin De Selfa suggested that I produce a café theatre type show with her as the main performer. She said, “If we do this at Le Galadari Meridien, I can assure you that JR will attend the show” referring to the President of Sri Lanka who was a fan of her. Although we made the initial plan, we never got down to doing it. Erin De Selfa accepted my invitation to do a presentation if I would organize a seminar for younger musicians, something I did after a few months.
Manik Sandrasagra surprised me when he wanted to meet with me. At 41, he was a famous and successful impresario and film director with many other facets and phases to his colourful life full of creativity. I had seen two of his movies, and a decade earlier, also saw his grand version of ‘Sound of Music’ play on BMICH with the greatest film actor of Sri Lanka, Gamini Fonseka as Captain Georg von Trapp.
During our meeting Sandrasagra spoke about many different subjects. He was brilliantly versatile, inspiring and charming. I was confused as to why a person of his calibre wanted to collaborate with a novice to showbiz like me. “I hear very good things about you as an innovative stage producer. Don’t you want to take your new passion to a higher level?” he asked with a big smile. He was encouraging me to produce a mega show which he would present. I felt honoured, but knew that such a large undertaking would affect my principal work at the hotel. Although very tempting, I did not go ahead with that collaboration.
Ivan Alvis was a copywriter of an ad agency and a part-time journalist for the Island Newspaper. His weekly feature column ‘Teen Page’ focused on the western music scene of Sri Lanka and young fans of musicians. As he provided wide publicity for my last two stage shows and increased activities of Colombo 2000, I had developed a good rapport with him. Ivan’s suggestion to me was more aligned with my work for the hotel.
He explained, “Teen page has a small annual awards ceremony for western musicians. I want to take this event to a new level. Can you help us by producing ‘The Island Music Awards 1987 Show’ on a grand scale?” I accepted, went to work on that project immediately and produced a major show within two months. We arranged a consortium band which we called ‘Meridien Pop Orchestra’ which provided backing to over 20 singers including a singer from the USA. We termed it ‘The Show’ which lived up to that promise. I produced Island Music Awards Shows in 1988, 1989, 1991 and 1992.
Collaborating with SLAM
The year 1988 was a very special year for western musicians of Sri Lanka. With some support of Le Galadari Meridien, the musicians formed a professional association – Sri Lanka Association of Musicians (SLAM). Noeline Honter was the first President of SLAM. Within months of the formation of SLAM, I collaborated with them on two key projects and an indirect project.
‘Professional Musician’ Seminar
The first project of SLAM – a full-day seminar, was a big success with over 100 musicians attending it as participants and five senior musicians as expert panellists. I was the only non-musician to be invited to present as a panellist. By then I was treated as one of them. I used my previous experience in running management seminars for hoteliers in planning this seminar.
‘Meridien Music Makers 1’ Original Pop Show
My fifth stage production was an experimental music show. Most western musicians used to perform songs made popular mainly by American, and British pop stars and ABBA from Sweden. They did very little original song composing. To promote original, Sri Lankan English song compositions, the first half of this show was dedicated to originals. A couple of classically trained, young musicians also performed in that segment. The second half featured popular singers singing the latest pop hits. Although not a SLAM project, this show featured pre-dominantly members of SLAM.
SLAM 1 Fund Raiser Pop Concert
It was a great honour when SLAM Invited me to produce their first music show. It was unique as it had 50 stars performing free of charge to raise funds for their young association. The Who’s Who of the
western music scene in Sri Lanka were there.
Thank you for the music!
by Dr Gotabhya Ranasinghe
Senior Consultant Cardiologist
National Hospital Sri Lanka
When we sought a meeting with Hon Dr. Ramesh Pathirana, Minister of Health, he graciously cleared his busy schedule to accommodate us. Renowned for his attentive listening and deep understanding, Minister Pathirana is dedicated to advancing the health sector. His openness and transparency exemplify the qualities of an exemplary politician and minister.
Dr. Palitha Mahipala, the current Health Secretary, demonstrates both commendable enthusiasm and unwavering support. This combination of attributes makes him a highly compatible colleague for the esteemed Minister of Health.
Our discussion centered on a project that has been in the works for the past 30 years, one that no other minister had managed to advance.
Minister Pathirana, however, recognized the project’s significance and its potential to revolutionize care for heart patients.
The project involves the construction of a state-of-the-art facility at the premises of the National Hospital Colombo. The project’s location within the premises of the National Hospital underscores its importance and relevance to the healthcare infrastructure of the nation.
This facility will include a cardiology building and a tertiary care center, equipped with the latest technology to handle and treat all types of heart-related conditions and surgeries.
Securing funding was a major milestone for this initiative. Minister Pathirana successfully obtained approval for a $40 billion loan from the Asian Development Bank. With the funding in place, the foundation stone is scheduled to be laid in September this year, and construction will begin in January 2025.
This project guarantees a consistent and uninterrupted supply of stents and related medications for heart patients. As a result, patients will have timely access to essential medical supplies during their treatment and recovery. By securing these critical resources, the project aims to enhance patient outcomes, minimize treatment delays, and maintain the highest standards of cardiac care.
Upon its fruition, this monumental building will serve as a beacon of hope and healing, symbolizing the unwavering dedication to improving patient outcomes and fostering a healthier society.We anticipate a future marked by significant progress and positive outcomes in Sri Lanka’s cardiovascular treatment landscape within the foreseeable timeframe.
by Fr. Emmanuel Fernando, OMI
Jesuit Fr. Aloysius Pieris (affectionately called Fr. Aloy) celebrated his 90th birthday on April 9, 2024 and I, as the editor of our Oblate Journal, THE MISSIONARY OBLATE had gone to press by that time. Immediately I decided to publish an article, appreciating the untiring selfless services he continues to offer for inter-Faith dialogue, the renewal of the Catholic Church, his concern for the poor and the suffering Sri Lankan masses and to me, the present writer.
It was in 1988, when I was appointed Director of the Oblate Scholastics at Ampitiya by the then Oblate Provincial Fr. Anselm Silva, that I came to know Fr. Aloy more closely. Knowing well his expertise in matters spiritual, theological, Indological and pastoral, and with the collaborative spirit of my companion-formators, our Oblate Scholastics were sent to Tulana, the Research and Encounter Centre, Kelaniya, of which he is the Founder-Director, for ‘exposure-programmes’ on matters spiritual, biblical, theological and pastoral. Some of these dimensions according to my view and that of my companion-formators, were not available at the National Seminary, Ampitiya.
Ever since that time, our Oblate formators/ accompaniers at the Oblate Scholasticate, Ampitiya , have continued to send our Oblate Scholastics to Tulana Centre for deepening their insights and convictions regarding matters needed to serve the people in today’s context. Fr. Aloy also had tried very enthusiastically with the Oblate team headed by Frs. Oswald Firth and Clement Waidyasekara to begin a Theologate, directed by the Religious Congregations in Sri Lanka, for the contextual formation/ accompaniment of their members. It should very well be a desired goal of the Leaders / Provincials of the Religious Congregations.
Besides being a formator/accompanier at the Oblate Scholasticate, I was entrusted also with the task of editing and publishing our Oblate journal, ‘The Missionary Oblate’. To maintain the quality of the journal I continue to depend on Fr. Aloy for his thought-provoking and stimulating articles on Biblical Spirituality, Biblical Theology and Ecclesiology. I am very grateful to him for his generous assistance. Of late, his writings on renewal of the Church, initiated by Pope St. John XX111 and continued by Pope Francis through the Synodal path, published in our Oblate journal, enable our readers to focus their attention also on the needed renewal in the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka. Fr. Aloy appreciated very much the Synodal path adopted by the Jesuit Pope Francis for the renewal of the Church, rooted very much on prayerful discernment. In my Religious and presbyteral life, Fr.Aloy continues to be my spiritual animator / guide and ongoing formator / acccompanier.
Fr. Aloysius Pieris, BA Hons (Lond), LPh (SHC, India), STL (PFT, Naples), PhD (SLU/VC), ThD (Tilburg), D.Ltt (KU), has been one of the eminent Asian theologians well recognized internationally and one who has lectured and held visiting chairs in many universities both in the West and in the East. Many members of Religious Congregations from Asian countries have benefited from his lectures and guidance in the East Asian Pastoral Institute (EAPI) in Manila, Philippines. He had been a Theologian consulted by the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences for many years. During his professorship at the Gregorian University in Rome, he was called to be a member of a special group of advisers on other religions consulted by Pope Paul VI.
Fr. Aloy is the author of more than 30 books and well over 500 Research Papers. Some of his books and articles have been translated and published in several countries. Among those books, one can find the following: 1) The Genesis of an Asian Theology of Liberation (An Autobiographical Excursus on the Art of Theologising in Asia, 2) An Asian Theology of Liberation, 3) Providential Timeliness of Vatican 11 (a long-overdue halt to a scandalous millennium, 4) Give Vatican 11 a chance, 5) Leadership in the Church, 6) Relishing our faith in working for justice (Themes for study and discussion), 7) A Message meant mainly, not exclusively for Jesuits (Background information necessary for helping Francis renew the Church), 8) Lent in Lanka (Reflections and Resolutions, 9) Love meets wisdom (A Christian Experience of Buddhism, 10) Fire and Water 11) God’s Reign for God’s poor, 12) Our Unhiddden Agenda (How we Jesuits work, pray and form our men). He is also the Editor of two journals, Vagdevi, Journal of Religious Reflection and Dialogue, New Series.
Fr. Aloy has a BA in Pali and Sanskrit from the University of London and a Ph.D in Buddhist Philosophy from the University of Sri Lankan, Vidyodaya Campus. On Nov. 23, 2019, he was awarded the prestigious honorary Doctorate of Literature (D.Litt) by the Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya, the Most Venerable Welamitiyawe Dharmakirthi Sri Kusala Dhamma Thera.
Fr. Aloy continues to be a promoter of Gospel values and virtues. Justice as a constitutive dimension of love and social concern for the downtrodden masses are very much noted in his life and work. He had very much appreciated the commitment of the late Fr. Joseph (Joe) Fernando, the National Director of the Social and Economic Centre (SEDEC) for the poor.
In Sri Lanka, a few religious Congregations – the Good Shepherd Sisters, the Christian Brothers, the Marist Brothers and the Oblates – have invited him to animate their members especially during their Provincial Congresses, Chapters and International Conferences. The mainline Christian Churches also have sought his advice and followed his seminars. I, for one, regret very much, that the Sri Lankan authorities of the Catholic Church –today’s Hierarchy—- have not sought Fr.
Aloy’s expertise for the renewal of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka and thus have not benefited from the immense store of wisdom and insight that he can offer to our local Church while the Sri Lankan bishops who governed the Catholic church in the immediate aftermath of the Second Vatican Council (Edmund Fernando OMI, Anthony de Saram, Leo Nanayakkara OSB, Frank Marcus Fernando, Paul Perera,) visited him and consulted him on many matters. Among the Tamil Bishops, Bishop Rayappu Joseph was keeping close contact with him and Bishop J. Deogupillai hosted him and his team visiting him after the horrible Black July massacre of Tamils.
Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement
By Gomi Senadhira
senadhiragomi@gmail.com
“You might tell fairy tales, but the progress of a country cannot be achieved through such narratives. A country cannot be developed by making false promises. The country moved backward because of the electoral promises made by political parties throughout time. We have witnessed that the ultimate result of this is the country becoming bankrupt. Unfortunately, many segments of the population have not come to realize this yet.” – President Ranil Wickremesinghe, 2024 Budget speech
Any Sri Lankan would agree with the above words of President Wickremesinghe on the false promises our politicians and officials make and the fairy tales they narrate which bankrupted this country. So, to understand this, let’s look at one such fairy tale with lots of false promises; Ranil Wickremesinghe’s greatest achievement in the area of international trade and investment promotion during the Yahapalana period, Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SLSFTA).
It is appropriate and timely to do it now as Finance Minister Wickremesinghe has just presented to parliament a bill on the National Policy on Economic Transformation which includes the establishment of an Office for International Trade and the Sri Lanka Institute of Economics and International Trade.
Was SLSFTA a “Cleverly negotiated Free Trade Agreement” as stated by the (former) Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama during the Parliamentary Debate on the SLSFTA in July 2018, or a colossal blunder covered up with lies, false promises, and fairy tales? After SLSFTA was signed there were a number of fairy tales published on this agreement by the Ministry of Development Strategies and International, Institute of Policy Studies, and others.
However, for this article, I would like to limit my comments to the speech by Minister Samarawickrama during the Parliamentary Debate, and the two most important areas in the agreement which were covered up with lies, fairy tales, and false promises, namely: revenue loss for Sri Lanka and Investment from Singapore. On the other important area, “Waste products dumping” I do not want to comment here as I have written extensively on the issue.
1. The revenue loss
During the Parliamentary Debate in July 2018, Minister Samarawickrama stated “…. let me reiterate that this FTA with Singapore has been very cleverly negotiated by us…. The liberalisation programme under this FTA has been carefully designed to have the least impact on domestic industry and revenue collection. We have included all revenue sensitive items in the negative list of items which will not be subject to removal of tariff. Therefore, 97.8% revenue from Customs duty is protected. Our tariff liberalisation will take place over a period of 12-15 years! In fact, the revenue earned through tariffs on goods imported from Singapore last year was Rs. 35 billion.
The revenue loss for over the next 15 years due to the FTA is only Rs. 733 million– which when annualised, on average, is just Rs. 51 million. That is just 0.14% per year! So anyone who claims the Singapore FTA causes revenue loss to the Government cannot do basic arithmetic! Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, I call on my fellow members of this House – don’t mislead the public with baseless criticism that is not grounded in facts. Don’t look at petty politics and use these issues for your own political survival.”
I was surprised to read the minister’s speech because an article published in January 2018 in “The Straits Times“, based on information released by the Singaporean Negotiators stated, “…. With the FTA, tariff savings for Singapore exports are estimated to hit $10 million annually“.
As the annual tariff savings (that is the revenue loss for Sri Lanka) calculated by the Singaporean Negotiators, Singaporean $ 10 million (Sri Lankan rupees 1,200 million in 2018) was way above the rupees’ 733 million revenue loss for 15 years estimated by the Sri Lankan negotiators, it was clear to any observer that one of the parties to the agreement had not done the basic arithmetic!
Six years later, according to a report published by “The Morning” newspaper, speaking at the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) on 7th May 2024, Mr Samarawickrama’s chief trade negotiator K.J. Weerasinghehad had admitted “…. that forecasted revenue loss for the Government of Sri Lanka through the Singapore FTA is Rs. 450 million in 2023 and Rs. 1.3 billion in 2024.”
If these numbers are correct, as tariff liberalisation under the SLSFTA has just started, we will pass Rs 2 billion very soon. Then, the question is how Sri Lanka’s trade negotiators made such a colossal blunder. Didn’t they do their basic arithmetic? If they didn’t know how to do basic arithmetic they should have at least done their basic readings. For example, the headline of the article published in The Straits Times in January 2018 was “Singapore, Sri Lanka sign FTA, annual savings of $10m expected”.
Anyway, as Sri Lanka’s chief negotiator reiterated at the COPF meeting that “…. since 99% of the tariffs in Singapore have zero rates of duty, Sri Lanka has agreed on 80% tariff liberalisation over a period of 15 years while expecting Singapore investments to address the imbalance in trade,” let’s turn towards investment.
Investment from Singapore
In July 2018, speaking during the Parliamentary Debate on the FTA this is what Minister Malik Samarawickrama stated on investment from Singapore, “Already, thanks to this FTA, in just the past two-and-a-half months since the agreement came into effect we have received a proposal from Singapore for investment amounting to $ 14.8 billion in an oil refinery for export of petroleum products. In addition, we have proposals for a steel manufacturing plant for exports ($ 1 billion investment), flour milling plant ($ 50 million), sugar refinery ($ 200 million). This adds up to more than $ 16.05 billion in the pipeline on these projects alone.
And all of these projects will create thousands of more jobs for our people. In principle approval has already been granted by the BOI and the investors are awaiting the release of land the environmental approvals to commence the project.
I request the Opposition and those with vested interests to change their narrow-minded thinking and join us to develop our country. We must always look at what is best for the whole community, not just the few who may oppose. We owe it to our people to courageously take decisions that will change their lives for the better.”
According to the media report I quoted earlier, speaking at the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) Chief Negotiator Weerasinghe has admitted that Sri Lanka was not happy with overall Singapore investments that have come in the past few years in return for the trade liberalisation under the Singapore-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement. He has added that between 2021 and 2023 the total investment from Singapore had been around $162 million!
What happened to those projects worth $16 billion negotiated, thanks to the SLSFTA, in just the two-and-a-half months after the agreement came into effect and approved by the BOI? I do not know about the steel manufacturing plant for exports ($ 1 billion investment), flour milling plant ($ 50 million) and sugar refinery ($ 200 million).
However, story of the multibillion-dollar investment in the Petroleum Refinery unfolded in a manner that would qualify it as the best fairy tale with false promises presented by our politicians and the officials, prior to 2019 elections.
Though many Sri Lankans got to know, through the media which repeatedly highlighted a plethora of issues surrounding the project and the questionable credentials of the Singaporean investor, the construction work on the Mirrijiwela Oil Refinery along with the cement factory began on the24th of March 2019 with a bang and Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his ministers along with the foreign and local dignitaries laid the foundation stones.
That was few months before the 2019 Presidential elections. Inaugurating the construction work Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the projects will create thousands of job opportunities in the area and surrounding districts.
The oil refinery, which was to be built over 200 acres of land, with the capacity to refine 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day, was to generate US$7 billion of exports and create 1,500 direct and 3,000 indirect jobs. The construction of the refinery was to be completed in 44 months. Four years later, in August 2023 the Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal presented by President Ranil Wickremesinghe to cancel the agreement with the investors of the refinery as the project has not been implemented! Can they explain to the country how much money was wasted to produce that fairy tale?
It is obvious that the President, ministers, and officials had made huge blunders and had deliberately misled the public and the parliament on the revenue loss and potential investment from SLSFTA with fairy tales and false promises.
As the president himself said, a country cannot be developed by making false promises or with fairy tales and these false promises and fairy tales had bankrupted the country. “Unfortunately, many segments of the population have not come to realize this yet”.
(The writer, a specialist and an activist on trade and development issues . )
US sports envoys to Lanka to champion youth development
Rahuman questions sudden cancellation of leave of CEB employees
