Tank farm deal and Newspeak

Monday 10th January, 2022

The government claims that its Trincomalee oil tank farm deal with India is a huge win for Sri Lanka. If so, the Indo-Lanka Accord (1987), which the Jayewardene government signed, should also be considered a victory for this country, mutatis mutandis. The present-day ‘patriotic’ leaders protested against the Indo-Lanka pact while they were in the Opposition, didn’t they?

In a desperate bid to neutralise the political fallout of the questionable tank farm deal, the government has, in a glossy booklet, titled, Regaining Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm––which reminds us of the disastrous Regaining Sri Lanka programme launched by the UNP-led UNF government (2001-2004)––made a comparison between the 2017 MoU (signed under the yahapalana administration) on the Trinco oil tank farm and the latest agreement. It is obvious that a full-dress agreement and an MoU are two different things, and the government propagandists have sought to compare apples with oranges. Nevertheless, according to the booklet, the benefits that are believed to have accrued to this country from its tank farm deal are as follows: Sri Lanka’s shares in the joint venture to be set up between the Lanka Indian Oil Company (LIOC) and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) have increased from 50 to 51, and the number of Sri Lankan directors from three to four as opposed to LIOC’s three; all 99 tanks were to be leased to LIOC according to the 2017 MoU, but the new agreement will enable the CPC to have 24 tanks as opposed to IOC’s 14, and 61 to be vested in the Joint Venture; the number of tanks under Sri Lanka’s control has increased from zero to 85, and the tanks to be directly under Sri Lanka number 24.

The booklet also says the Joint Venture will be under the purview of the COPE (Committee on Public Enterprises) and subject to questioning by the MPs and the Minister; it will operate following the model of the CPC Storage Terminal Ltd., which is already in operation as a joint venture between the CPC and the LIOC.

Thus, the ‘patriots; who claimed that the LIOC was holding on to the Trinco oil tank farm ‘illegally’ have legalised its hold on Sri Lanka’s strategic asset! Why didn’t they declare what the LIOC had done null and void ab initio, and take over all 99 tanks.

The best analysis of the controversial tank farm agreement has been done by the Federation of National Organizations (FNO), which has, in a letter addressed to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, demolished the government’s flawed arguments. The salient points in the FNO letter (in Sinhala), a copy of which was made available to us yesterday afternoon, are as follows: the lease period has been increased from 35 years to 50 years; disputes, if any, were to be settled in Sri Lanka previously, but the new agreement has provided for arbitration in Singapore; at present, India is using the oil tanks pending the signing of a lease agreement, but the government has undertaken to hand over to India strategically important 14 oil tanks and bunkering trade for 50 years; it was previously possible to revise the rental periodically, but the government has agreed to make available the storage facilities at the concessionary rate of USD 1,000 per tank, which was agreed upon about 20 years ago [under the UNP-led UNF government]; although the government says 61 tanks will be operated by the proposed joint venture, the new agreement provides for leasing those tanks as well to the LIOC; trade unions have pointed out that three tanks under the CPC will be allocated to Prima Company for water storage; a huge amount of funds will have to be spent on the rehabilitation of the other tanks; there is the likelihood of all tanks being placed under the LIOC ultimately, and the new agreement violates the Constitution of Sri Lanka because it stipulates that no one could engage in port-related commercial activities in Trincomalee without the consent of the LIOC.

The main thrust of the FNO’s argument is that the most important agreement on the tank farm deal has not been presented to the Cabinet for approval; it has gone the same way as the government’s secret agreement with the New Fortress Company. All vital information about the amount of funds the IOC will invest in the venture, and administrative powers, etc., is contained in the agreement which has not been submitted to the Cabinet. The fact that Sri Lanka will own 51% of shares of the proposed joint venture pertains only to the sharing of profits, and not the administrative powers the LIOC will hold therein. The FNO points out that Sri Lanka held 65% of the shares of SriLankan Airlines according to its agreement with Emirates, but the management of the national carrier was done by Emirates.

The FNO also maintains that the government has acted in violation of the people’s sovereignty by not presenting the most important agreement on the oil tanks farm deal to the Cabinet, and bypassed the Eastern Province Governor and had the Land Commissioner General sign the lease agreement instead, in violation of the people’s sovereignty.

Plausible liars in the government’s propaganda team will have a hard time trying to sell the tank farm deal to the Sri Lankan public. They ought to stop insulting Sri Lankans’ intelligence and admit that the government has mismanaged the economy to the point of being left with no alternative but to opt for the disastrous deal in return for economic assistance from India.

People are the best judges, and they will deliver their verdict on the tank farm deal if the government holds the local government elections without postponing them.