Features
MULTI-TASKING IN COLOMBO – Part 55
CONFESSIONS OF A GLOBAL GYPSY
By Dr. Chandana (Chandi) Jayawardena DPhil
President – Chandi J. Associates Inc. Consulting, Canada
Founder & Administrator – Global Hospitality Forum
chandij@sympatico.ca
Soon after returning from overseas, I became extremely busy. I had to quickly catch up on my outstanding work at the Ceylon Hotel School (CHS) and various other tasks placed on hold. I had been away for three weeks on an important assignment in Singapore and an unplanned holiday in Malaysia. Towards the end of 1982, I was involved in ten different activities concurrently. I was compelled to master the art of multi-tasking.
Teaching
As a Senior Lecturer in Food & Beverage Operations at CHS, while continuing my lectures and practical sessions, I developed new courses on operations management. I enhanced these courses with selected material from my business administration studies at the university and mini case studies based on my management experience. These courses were popular with the fourth-year students. The most popular course I did was ‘Wine and Spirits Theory’, as students loved to hear my stories while sampling alcoholic beverages!
I also adjusted the evaluation scheme for management courses to reward logical thinking and problem-solving skills of the students, rather than rewarding them on their memorizing skills. The Hospitality industry needed ‘hands on’ managers who were knowledgeable with practical experiences and not experts on theories.
My active participation in fun events and round trips with students helped me to better understand students and appreciate youthful trends. The average age gap between the fourth-year students and myself was only four years, and that helped me to have a good rapport with most of them. While annual graduation ceremonies were happy moments, some students were sad to leave CHS and friendly members of faculty.
Events
The fourth-year management students specializing in culinary arts usually produced high quality gourmet food for dinner. The restaurant service practical sessions with flambé service at the training restaurant often were themed dinners. Expressing showmanship of students while preparing classical cocktails at the training bar, which I managed, were a lot of fun. The Principal/Director of CHS, Mrs. Pearl Heenatigala and members of the teaching faculty, regularly invited their family and friends to fill the 40-seat restaurant. Most of them also sipped pre-dinner cocktails, providing opportunities to the final year students in food & beverage management studies to gain practical experience.
Before and during dinner service, teaching staff were allowed to order ‘free’ cocktails from the students working in the bar on rotation. When it was noticed that one of our faculty colleagues regularly consumed a large number of these ‘free’ cocktails, Mrs. Heenatigala introduced a new rule. Her direction was that the maximum number of cocktails per person was three per evening.
There were two female Culinary Lecturers – Marie and Rosie, who never consumed any cocktails. When students informed me that the ‘usual suspect’ was demanding his fourth cocktail, I politely reminded him about the new rule. He then said, “Machan, what I am ordering now is Marie’s first cocktail! I will come for her second cocktail, very soon!”
Towards the start of the dessert service, he came back claiming “Rosie’s first cocktail!” During a usual dinner service, this colleague cleverly continued to consume nine cocktails made with generous quantities of liquor, prepared faithfully following original classical recipes. Fortunately, he was able to hold his liquor. However, his addiction, posed a few occasional challenges for me to balance the liquor stocks, required by law.
At that time, except for those who were in the hospitality business, most Lankans were not very familiar with wines. Cheeses that were available in Sri Lanka were also limited to a few brands. The socialist government in power till 1977 had virtually stopped all imports of non-essential items. Towards the late 1970 when a new pro free-market government lifted all those import restrictions, Lankan hoteliers were pleased.
The first-ever supermarket in Sri Lanka was just opened by the well-known entrepreneur, Cornel Perera. In later years, he became the Chairman of the owning company of Colombo Hilton and also the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management (successor of CHS). Cornel’s Supermarket made a wide range of cheeses available in Sri Lanka, by early 1980s, but these were very expensive. Around the same period, many liquor suppliers grew their businesses by importing a wider range of wines required by hotels.
“Chandana, how about organizing a large-scale Cheese and Wine event at CHS?” Mrs. Heenatigala planted a seed in my mind. “Madam, that’s an excellent idea which will help our students’ appreciation of wines and cheeses, plus boost the image of CHS. Give me a month and I will organize a big event, at the lowest possible cost,” I told her.
I met Cornel Perera and the leading wine importers and arranged a few sponsorship deals. As CHS students were not exposed to butter carvings, I demonstrated this skill at CHS, which I had developed when I was an Executive Chef in the mid-1970s. We included a number of large, butter carvings to our event decorations. Encouraged with the success of this Cheese and Wine event, CHS continued with regular special events.
Business
My weekends were devoted to our family business – Streamline Services (Pvt.) Ltd. As a Director of the company, I ran the Streamline Hotel Management Training Section. We had lectures on Saturdays and Sundays. With the increased business and student intake, we organized two award ceremonies a year.
As CHS could not produce sufficient number of graduates, the hotel industry praised Streamline Services for our efforts in educating and training a large number of hotel workers, and future managers. The chief guests of our award ceremonies were well-known hospitality industry leaders such as Mr. Herbert Cooray (Chairman of Jetwing Hotels Group, as well as the Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka) and Sriyantha Senaratne (Managing Director of Gemini Management Services Ltd.).
Recruiting
A businessman I met in Singapore had secured a contract as the student recruiting agent for the Far East and South Asia for an up-and-coming Swiss hotel school – Hotelconsult (now, Hotel Consult Institut Hôtelier César Ritz). He met me when I was a guest at the Goodwood Park Hotel, and later appointed me as the Resident Director for Sri Lanka of his company – Inter-Asia Education Consultants, Singapore. My job was to recruit students to Hotelconsult, and I did well in recruitment due to hard work by Streamline Services.
The student recruitment business grew quickly and through my contacts, a few other European hotel schools appointed Streamline Services as the sole student recruitment agent in Sri Lanka. These schools included the International Management Institute (IMI) in Switzerland, the Hague Hotel School in the Netherlands and the Hotel Schools within the Schiller International University in Switzerland, France, the UK and the USA. Strengthening the business relationships I had built, in later years I secured a few teaching contracts at IMI, Switzerland and the School of Hotel Management at the Schiller International University in the UK (I also became the Acting Director of this school in 1990).
Consulting
Around the same time, a few companies appointed me as a consultant for short-term assignments. I led a team of food & beverage specialists from CHS, to develop and deliver a two-week food and beverage training session for hotel workers at the Holiday Inn in Colombo. This was by invitation of my friend, Imtiaz Cader, the General Manager/Director of the hotel.
I also helped in the initial planning of two proposed hotel projects. My clients were Majestic Holiday Resorts Ltd. which intended to open a hotel near Hikkaduwa and Lee Potter Holdings in the UK, which intended to open a hotel in Passikudah. On the request of one of my batch-mates at the Colombo University who was Personnel Manager of Singer Lanka Ltd., I advised on improving the skills of Singer canteen cooking staff.
Studying
On most weekday evening for 30 weeks, I went to the lectures of the Executive Diploma in Business Administration (EDBA) program at the University of Colombo (UoC). As UoC cleverly arranged experienced industry leaders, well-known economists, leading corporate and industrial lawyers, top financial consultants, human resource specialists, marketing gurus and production managers to teach, I acquired lots of practical business knowledge.
In addition, I also attended four seminars organized by different organizations in Sri Lanka and presented by international experts. The longer seminar was a two-week program in ‘Hotel Management’ by South Devon Technical College in the UK. Each of the other three seminars were one-week long. Those were a ‘Train the Trainer’ by American Hotel & Motel Association, ‘Tourism Marketing’ by Pacific Asia Travel Association, and ‘Operations Management’ by Pannel Kerr Forster Consulting in USA. I was the seminar coordinator for the last seminar. That experience motivated me to organize and present a large number of hotel management seminars in many countries over the next 40 years.
Guiding
One day, Mrs. Heenatigala delegated a short, additional teaching assignment to me. She asked me to deliver three, two-hour sessions of food and beverage essential knowledge and table etiquette, to a group of 40 mature students studying to qualify as Tourist Guide Lecturers. In order to have some clearer context of the whole program, I asked a few questions. She said that it would be a part-time program with 10-hours of lectures a week over a four-month period, conducted at UoC. She also provided me with the full syllabus.
When I read that syllabus, I was most impressed with the comprehensive information the program provided and the high calibre of subject experts who would be making presentations. It covered each segment of the 2,600 years of recorded history of Sri Lanka. Each historic segment was presented in summary form by a university professor who had done a doctoral degree on the subject. My new mentor, the Dean of the Faculty of Arts at UoC, Professor Bertram Bastianpillai was one of those history professors.
In addition, the syllabus covered essential information about the geography, economy, industries, spices, cuisine, ayurveda, gems, arts and crafts, tourism, culture, religions etc. Elocution was a subject and the grading for that subject was given during a week-long tour of Sri Lanka, when topics for speeches were given at random to the students in the program. There also were written exams for other subjects.
“Madam, I will teach in this program this year, but I would love to be a student in the next cohort in four months’ time.” I told Mrs. Heenatigala. “You seem to be hungry for knowledge! As this program is organized by our employer, Ceylon Tourist Board, it will be totally free for you. I will enrol you.” She supported my wish. Classes were from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm. Every weekday, I left work at CHS around 3:30 pm and attended the Tourist Guide Lecturer sessions at UoC from 4:00 pm, but left half an hour early to rush to attend EDBA lectures from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. After dinner, I studied and also prepared for my lectures until midnight every day. It was hectic but rewarding.
Supporting me, my wife (who worked for a travel company) and one of her uncles who did tour guiding, joined my batch as fellow students and we had lot of fun. We also studied together before the examinations. In 1982, I lectured in the program, in 1983, I completed the program as a student and passed the examinations, and in 1984, Ceylon Tourist Board licenced me as a Tourist Guide Lecturer. I hardly practiced this profession, but was very happy with the knowledge I gained. It is an excellent program, which still continues.
Volunteering
I served as the Treasurer of the Ceylon Hotel School Graduates Association (CHSGA) for two years. In 1981, I was elected to be the General Secretary of this largest professional association for the hotel industry of Sri Lanka. The position demanded a considerable amount of time, but as all monthly meetings were held at CHS, it was convenient for me.
Acting
As a child actor, having appeared in two Sri Lankan movies and a cinema advertisement in 1960s, I had some experience in front of the movie camera. As a child, I was directed by the greatest movie director in Sri Lanka, Lester James Peries and also a well-known cinematographer and director, Willie Blake.
In the early 1980s, my wife was becoming popular as an actress for TV commercials. One day when I accompanied her on a shoot, the well-known movie director who shot the commercial, D.B. Nihalsinghe and his brother, D. B Suranimala, a TV commercial director, chatted with me. After that they invited me to act in several TV commercials with my wife. I ended up doing nine TV commercials and a some other minor, acting assignments (for catwalk, calendar photo shoot, Christmas music shows and music videos).
Judo
On re-locating in Colombo in 1981, I re-started Judo at my club, the Central YMCA. By 1982, I had improved my Judo fighting and recorded some good successes at tournaments. After practice one day, when Judo colleagues were having some post-practice refreshments at a nearby café, one of the highest-ranking Judokas in Sri Lanka, Kithsiri De Soyza, made an offer to me. He announced that the National Judo Association of Sri Lanka has decided to include me as a member of the Sri Lanka national Judo team to compete in a few international tournaments held in India. A few days later, I packed my bags and left for India for two weeks with nine other national Judokas on an ‘action-packed’ memorable trip.
When I look back, I wonder how I was able to handle all those different activities concurrently, 40 years ago. Being a young man in my late twenties, I guess that I had a lot of energy. I wish that I could still have the same level of energy and enthusiasm to tick all items in my ever-expanding bucket list…
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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