Features
My first visit to China and finding the Chinese people
Excerpted from Memories that linger: My journey in the world of disability by Padmani Mendis)
“Today I found China,” is what I wrote to Nalin on Friday, three days after I arrived in Guangzhou, which at school I had known as the city of Canton. Let me explain why I wrote this. I arrived in Guangzhou, a port city at the mouth of the Pearl River on Tuesday and had been met at the airport by Mr. Hu. He turned out to be my constant guide and my interpreter throughout the 24 days that I spent on this my first visit to China in July 1986.
Mr. Hu loaded my luggage and me into a black limousine, sat with me in the back seat and had me driven to the Garden Hotel to check in. The first part of the route from the airport was all tree-lined highways. Turning off the highway, the second part leading to the hotel was roadways lined all the way with colourful flowerbeds. The whole forming a post-card pretty landscape. A couple of black limousines, rather like the one I was riding in, were to be seen on the highways and on the roadways, a few cyclists on the pathways for cycles but hardly any pedestrians on the pavements.
Over the next few weeks, Mr. Hu came to the hotel every morning at an appointed time and took me to the Sun Yat Sen University for Medical Sciences, the location of my assignment. He came for me at an appointed time to take me back to the hotel. Every day I saw the same kind of scenery on the routes we took. Lots of trees and flowers but few people. I was bewildered. It would be rude to ask Mr. Hu about where the people were.
Mr. Hu had indicated to me that it would be best if I did not go out on my own. He had told me just to let him know and he would take me in the limousine. But on the third day my curiosity got the better of me. I decided to do a little investigating on my own. I said to myself, what does it matter? I am only going for a walk. On an old map that I had seen, I could tell roughly in which direction the Pearl River lay in relation to the Garden Hotel. So I set out in that direction. I knew that where the river was, so would the people be.
I thought I would keep to the straight road. As I walked the architecture and scenery changed somewhat. After a particular junction, not far away new buildings gave way to the old; still trees to provide shade, but no flower beds. Large buildings for housing that had seen better days. Clothes hanging out to dry. People on the small crowded balconies. Children playing on the streets. Safe, no vehicles.
And then, not much later, after crossing another junction and may be about half an hour since starting off from the hotel, there it was and there they were. Narrow streets and narrower byways. Crowded apartment blocks. The Chinese people. In their thousands. Seemingly hundreds of thousands. Rushing hither and thither as Chinese people would do. Rather like ants,speeding on their way, but always time to greet one another. Always politely, often with time for a brief conversation. There they were, all the way down to the river.
This was the China I was expecting to see and was looking for. I had found that China and its people. Thereafter, an evening walk down to the river was on my itinerary. The Chinese people left me and my saree alone. No stares, no remarks. They had their lives to lead. The children had their games to play. I was just someone else moving among them.
The Sun Yat Sen University of Medical Sciences and Prof. Zhou Dahong
My counterpart on this assignment in China was Prof. Zhou Dahong, Head of the Department of Rehabilitation. As I arrived at the main entrance to the university on the first morning of my assignment, Prof. Zhou, pronounced Jo, and his senior staff were waiting for me at the top of the steps. Someone was there to open the car door for me.
I still recall the special saree that I wore that morning. It was a printed Kashmiri silk in a light purplish colour, a gift from my mother-in-law. I wore also an amethyst pendant which had belonged to my mother. It is remarkable how little things like this come flooding back to one’s memory when writing about one’s journey. As I climbed up the steps Prof. Zhou reached down to welcome me.
He kind of helped me up with a warm gesture and introduced me to his senior staff. Everything was very formal. I was then led to the Department of Rehabilitation and introduced to the other staff. Prof. Zhou, now warm and friendly, did all the talking. He spoke English like an Englishman – with hardly a Chinese accent.
I had two tasks to complete with Prof. Zhou during the next three weeks. The first was to plan two CBR development projects, one rural and one urban. The second was to prepare a work plan and teaching material for a National Workshop on CBR to be held in October that year. I would be back for the workshop. It was to be held here at this university. It would be a significant occasion for Prof. Zhou. That the Chinese government had selected Prof. Zhou to initiate collaboration in rehabilitation with WHO was itself an indication of the high regard that Prof. Zhou was held in by the Government in Beijing. It increased Prof. Zhou’s standing in the university.
But first things first. Before we settled down to work, Prof. Zhou told me he was taking me out to lunch with the staff of his department. We could all meet informally and get to know each other. Which we did. There were about ten of us seated round the table.
The food was served in small bowls, each round as a separate course with rice served last. Waiters served each course. This was one way a meal was served in a restaurant, and the number of courses varied. Today there were twenty courses. Later when we were entertained in Xian our meal with the choicest food of the North-Western area of the country was served as 36 courses.
When I returned to Guangzhou in October the food was served as a banquet. In Xian too it was served as a banquet.
The meal was called a banquet because everyone served themselves from common dishes placed on a rotating tray in the centre of the table. The tray was called a “Lazy Susan” in other countries. I sat next to Prof. Zhou and he kept serving food on to my dish. As the chief guest, it was customary for me to wait until he did so. The banquet was enjoyable, the food was interesting.
On the first occasion in July Prof. Zhou told me that Cantonese food was special, different from the rest of China. He said to me, “In Canton we eat everything that crawls except their tails, and everything that flies except the planes.” In other words, he told me that in Canton they eat everything, That Was Everything. I learned this from the specialty restaurants I saw after that. From bats and rats to snakes and well, you name it. I ate it that day. And, determined not to know what I was eating, enjoyed it too.
I learned that Cantonese cuisine retains the natural flavours of the food by using mild seasoning and marinades in modest quantities. The methods they use the most are steaming, braising and boiling, sometimes for a very long time. Also stir-frying. Even though food is sometimes deep fried, it is never greasy.
Being at the mouth of the Pearl River, both sea fish and river fish was popular – lots of my favourite shrimp and prawns. I realised how special Cantonese food was only after I had been to Beijing. There I tasted the hot and spicy food from the northern Szechuan province more suited to the Sri Lanka palate. In Canton the staple was rice as in other parts of southern China. In the north people consume wheat products like noodles.
Information about Rehabilitation in Guangzhou
Prof. Zhou had arranged for me to visit a few rehabilitation institutions. Also for certain people to meet us at the university to explain to me what services were available for disabled people. Besides these, I had an extensive meeting with the Deputy Chief in the City’s Bureau of Civil Administration and his staff. What he told me was interesting. Attractive tax incentives approved in Beijing encourage industries to employ disabled people.
He told me that in Guangzhou 86% of adults who can work are gainfully employed. In the rural areas however, the employment of disabled people remained a problem. He also described to me the social development programmes the Bureau was putting in place with the participation of the street communities. He was telling me how these would be useful in urban CBR.
I was impressed with the tax incentives he described and often held these up as an example in other countries. China’s tax incentives included – any enterprise which had more than 35% disabled people in the workforce was free of profit tax; proportion 10 – 35% allowed profit tax to be halved; proportion of disabled people exceeding 50% was free of all taxes including municipal taxes etc.
He went on to explain that the basis of the incentives was not charity. They were designed to enable authorities to compensate for the lower productivity of certain disabled people and compete effectively in the market. Later, many an employer in Sri Lanka told me that disabled employees, particular those with hearing impairment showed higher productivity than non-disabled workers.
Prof. Zhou also took me to see a Rehabilitation Hospital that was being built in Guangzhou. Only the lower floors were as yet complete. Most patients had paraplegia and hemiplegia with a few who had tetraplegia. There were also a few children with cerebral palsy. The hospital was quite unusual. Treatment was by Traditional Chinese Medicine. Patients apparently took full responsibility for their rehabilitation.
As well as in the treatment areas, I saw them training by themselves by their bedside and in the corridors. In some instances, relatives were acting as helpers. One could see simple technical aids being used. I was told that the hospital was aiming at keeping the cost of rehabilitation per head low so that they could reach more people. One wondered whether a staff shortage was also a possibility. Or what was this about?
The Rural CBR Project
The Rural CBR project was to be managed by the WHO Collaborating Centre for Primary Health Care located in Conghua County, Guangdong Province. Sun Yat Sen University’s Rehabilitation Department, two hours away, would provide required technical support. This project would give the province and the country experience in integrating CBR within Primary Health Care. The country already had such a PHC system in the villages and community participation was part of that system.
Villages will be encouraged to participate in a similar way in CBR. The project will start with discussions in the villages. Village doctors within health stations would include CBR as one of their tasks. With time the Public Health Assistants of the collaborating centre will be trained to provide mid-level support for CBR enabling project expansion and sustainability.
The project would provide opportunities to assess personnel needs for CBR; assess the effectiveness of the project on disabled people, their families and the village; the effectiveness of the technology in the WHO Manual and changes necessary, and develop a monitoring and reporting system within that used in Primary Health Care. The Bureau also wished that costs of the project be determined to allow plans for expansion.
During my stay in Guangzhou, details of this process were worked out between the Collaborating Centre and the Rehabilitation Department, with my help. It struck me that the Chinese were very thorough about making detailed plans. This was really valuable. The development project was ready to take off when I left.
A CBR Development Project in an Urban Area
Because it was a stated assignment activity, an urban CBR project was also planned in as much detail as the rural project while I was at the university with Prof. Zhou. It was to be located in Jinhua Street within the municipality of Guangzhou. This time I will tell my story a little differently.
In 1988, that is two years later, I heard Prof. Zhou talk about this urban project at the 16th World Congress of Rehabilitation International held in Tokyo, Japan. I will share now how the project we planned was implemented as he described it.
The urban project has been ongoing since March 1986, pioneered under the guidance of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine of the Sun Yat Sen University of Medical Sciences as a Resource Centre. The Jinhua Street community lives within an area of 0.44 sq. kms. with 146 short and narrow lanes spread irregularly like a maze.
The Street Community Administration set up a CBR Supervisory Committee. Members included local health workers, civil welfare workers, disabled people and Red Cross society members. This committee managed the project with technical support from the university. A local school physician was selected as a mid-level supervisor. It is interesting that he had participated in the National Workshop we held in 1986 to introduce CBR.
Thirty-two community workers were also selected. These were volunteers of the Street Red Cross Society. They were all given training by the university. A house-to-house survey was carried out among the street population of about 30,000. Three hundred and forty-four disabled individuals were located, amounting to 1.15% of the population.
Disabilities people had were in the areas of mobility, vision, communication, learning and mental and psychiatric disability. One hundred and five of these people had home training programmes. He listed features of the project as the following: use of traditional medicine for functional recovery, the setting up of a small community-run rehabilitation station to provide basic rehabilitation to those who could visit, 152 people with mobility disability included for employment in community-run factories, 22 individuals with mental handicap employed in a sheltered workshop, and inclusive recreational, sports and social activities organised by the street community.
China was developing her own urban CBR model using existing resources.
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
