Features
Teflon Tiran and Visa Outsourcing
by Rajan Philips
Everything seemed quiet on the government front, bar the colours and noises of May Day politics. Then all hell broke loose one day, at the airport of all places. The old ETA (Electronic Travel Authorization) system, which everyone requiring a visa on arrival had got used to, was gone, and a new VFS system that no one has heard of was in place. The change apparently had been implemented following cabinet approval of a proposal by Public Security Minister Tiran Alles based on an unsolicited offer by a consortium of three foreign companies.
The unsolicited proposal that would seem to have landed in the Minister’s inbox without prior notice, in fact emanated from a consortium of three visa business enterprises: GBS Technology Services, a global visa outsourcing company, with head office in Singapore; IVS Global-FZCO, which is a government-authorized Indian private company that collects Personal, Educational and Commercial documents for attestation; and VFS VF Worldwide Holdings Ltd., is also an outsourcing and technology service specialist, head-quartered in Zurich and Dubai. Their declared enterprise is to support governments and their far flung diplomatic missions. Outsourcing is their specialty.
It was a different specialty at the Bandaranaike International Airport. The airport stuff hit the social media and older media, and questions were flung at the government. One editorial asked: Whose brilliant idea was it? That was a rhetorical question, but the Minister in charge of Tourism answered the media in general: Ask the Immigration Minister. The latter happened to be in Singapore when the visa fiasco broke out – where else would you find Sri Lankan decision makers when their files are caught up in crises at home? Remember Maithripala Sirisena. Now, he is barred from entering any political office in Colombo. Gota too went to Singapore in search of other pastures. But he returned, the home turf being greener than any other, especially with a green man at the top.
Tiran Talks Tough
But unlike the two failed Presidents, Minister Alles is a power unto himself. He stood his ground in Singapore, so to speak, and promised answers upon his return. Which he did, first at a special media briefing and later in parliament. But there were no real answers, but only take-it-or-leave-it assertions. “Tiran talks tough,” one news story headlined Minister Alles’s special encounter with the media. Minister Alles justified the visa processing change based on “feedback from tourists and the need for an improved visa issuance system.” And he validated the decision-making process inasmuch as it included “a thorough review conducted by a Cabinet-appointed committee, which sought recommendations from the Attorney General and obtained unanimous approval from the House without debate.”
However, in parliament, under pressure from Opposition MPs, the Minister conceded that “the proposal regarding VFS charges was not presented to Parliament,” while arguing that “It was not necessary to present it to the Parliament,” because it had been approved in cabinet. He made another admission of error, a more grievous one for the visa seekers. The new system did not include the most popular 30-day visa. That was a mistake, the Minister admitted. Slipshod bureaucracy serving a Minister on a high speed power trip. There is no other explanation.
That the new visa system was given cabinet approval is irrelevant to the question, whose brilliant idea was it? After 46 years of steady erosion of the administrative and financial regulations (ARs & FRs) that guided public procurement until 1978, getting cabinet approval for public spending has become a bad joke. And what does the Attorney General have to do with this? Proffer recommendations on technology for choosing between alternative online visa processing systems? There were no competing alternative systems anyway to evaluate. Not even two. Only the unsolicited proposal. Did the Attorney General opine that it would be legal to accept the only offer? But was it the best or the most suitable to choose? We will never know.
In fairness, Minister Alles has described to the media the process that led to obtaining cabinet approval. On September 8, 2023, the Minister submitted a Cabinet paper on the unsolicited proposal from VFS, and on his recommendation the Cabinet appointed a Committee to review the matter. The Committee included representatives from the Treasury and other officials who were in discussions with VFS officials. The Committee completed its report in December, and on December 4, the Minister presented another proposal to the Cabinet, incorporating the committee’s report. Cabinet approval was granted on December 11 and the MoU with VFS was signed on December 21, 2023.
The Minister’s two proposals and the Committee Report that were presented to the Cabinet in September and in December have not been released to the media, nor have they been presented in parliament even after all the airport commotion. They should be made public along with VFS’s unsolicited proposal. Parliament has a right to ask for them for review and debate, and the Speaker has the obligation to get them tabled in parliament by the Minister.
Parliament and the public also need to know who were on the Cabinet-appointed Committee, who provided input on IT matters, and who first undertook the review of the VFS offer. In a normal and well-run procurement system these are routine matters, and there is no need for such public prying. But when the process is opaque and weighted, maximum probity is needed to clean up the mess.
There is another matter that needs to be placed in the public domain, and that is about the understanding the Minister and his co-decision-makers had on the operation of the old ETA system and its alleged shortcomings. We do not know if either of the two proposals by the Minister or the Committee Report that was sandwiched between them dealt with the operation of the ETA systems and its merits as well as shortcomings. All that we know so far are the Minister’s off-the-cuff remarks about the ETA, and the long but insubstantial supporting statement issued by the Controller General of the Immigration and Emigration Department, Mr. I.S.H.J. Ilukpitiya.
Minister Alles has contended that the change from ETA to VFS processing was “prompted by complaints from tourists” about the ETA, and the need for “addressing long-standing issues” with it. According to the Minister, such complaints were even “directed to President Ranil Wickremesinghe during his engagements with the tourists themselves.” But this is not the assessment of anyone in the in the tourism business, nor has this been the experience of travellers in general including this writer.
The Minister of Tourism, Harin Fernando, has distanced himself from the outsourcing decision while accepting collective responsibility for it as a cabinet member. The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority has expressed relief at the revocation of the new system as its officials were concerned about it being an impediment to the industry registering two historical highs in 2024: 2.3 million tourists and USD 5 billion revenue. Quite a number of people owning private tourism small and medium have also spoken out in favour of the old system.
The ETA Saga
By all accounts, the ETA system was developed by state-owned SLT-Mobitel, and Mobitel has been the IT service provider to the ETA from the time it was launched in 2012 until it was outsourced to VFS. The system began receiving text inputs only and over time it was upgraded to allow uploading of supporting e-documents by visa applicants. That is my understanding and even my experience of using ETA.
However, what both the Minister and the Controller General (CG) have identified as ETA’s main technical problem is its alleged “inability to obtain applicant’s photographs, photocopies of passports, other certificates and documents to the system online (these documents are essential for security verification).” Even if this were so, such a problem could have been fixed using expertise available in Sri Lanka. It did not require outsourcing the whole operation, like wielding an axe to crack an egg.
The Controller General has listed other drawbacks in his long statement but gives no indication whether these matters were ever taken up with Mobitel and what attempts were made to address them. According to media reports, however, “following a cabinet decision in July 2021, Mobitel was given a contract to revamp and upgrade the ETA system.” It is further reported that Mobitel did invest time and resources to upgrade the system and was waiting to roll out the new system after COVID-19. Finally, the reports say that all of a sudden Mobitel was instructed to stop work and the new VFS consortium was hired in December and began rolling out its version on April 17.
Mobitel could still help the public understanding of the matter by providing its version of the sequence of events. Hopefully, it would do so, and sooner than later. Independent of what Mobitel may or may not do, we could still pose some questions to the Minister, the Controller General, and collectively to the Cabinet of Ministers. Given the long involvement of Mobitel, as a state-owned enterprise, in providing technical support to ETA, did the Minister or his staff discuss with Mobitel VFS’s unsolicited offer and invite Mobitel to submit an alternative proposal?
Alternatively, as a state-owned enterprise with its past ETA experience, Mobitel could and should have been asked to provide an assessment of the VFS offer. At least, on the technical aspects of the offer. On the other hand, if the VFS offer was so manifestly superior, the Minister and the government should have negotiated with VFS to agree to an arrangement, or contract, which could have included a local technology partner – most suitably Mobitel. Unlike in a tender situation, in dealing with an unsolicited proposal the government has all the flexibility and the power to ask for and get whatever it wants – but only in the public interest, not for private graft. I don’t think any of this was done.
Nor was the simple practice of vetting the unsolicited proposal (USP) was done. That would have meant the government, or the Ministry, reviewing the proposal and preparing its own Terms of Reference that would include a brief assessment of the USP and the government’s specific requirements that VFS should commit to deliver if the project or contract were to ahead. Again, none of this was done. Otherwise, the Minister would have said so and more. The rigorous level at which the USP was reviewed and accepted, likely without any change, can be gleaned from the statement of the Controller General that includes quite a laundry list of the merits of the USP. One of them really stands out. And that is about tourism promotion.
Indeed, the obvious inability of Mobitel to promote Sri Lankan tourism abroad has been cited as one of its shortcomings and a reason for its sacking. On the other hand, VFS Global was touted for its “ability to promote the tourism industry of Sri Lanka in such countries (ability to get increased the number of tourist visits) because it has “an experienced base in obtaining services in 151 countries.” Why should a visa processing agency be tasked with promoting tourism? Did the Minister or the Controller ask for references from any of the 151 countries to confirm the tourism promoting credentials of VFS Global? And since when did promoting tourism become a mandate for the Controller General of Immigration?
What is the deal?
Still, we have no real answer to the question – whose brilliant idea was it? In fact, there will never be an answer if we are looking for a source of brilliance within the country. The idea, brilliant or not, came from abroad. Unsolicited and promising no cost to Sri Lankan, but only to tourists and expats looking for a fast visa clearance at the immigration desk before being ushered to the Duty Free stores.
The outsourcing of visa and other population services hitherto handled by government officials, began in the twilight years of the Reagan-Thatcher era when outsourcing and downsizing were political credos. Western governments tentatively began to outsource some of their diplomatic functions, especially visa processing of permanent-resident immigrants and not so much temporary tourists. The outsourcing practice took flight and in the name of cost savings different countries contracted with the same company for visa services.
Consortiums were formed to facilitate platforms that would serve multiple countries as clients. Once operational platforms are in place it becomes natural to bring in more countries clients at marginal costs but significant profits. Soliciting new clients with unsolicited proposals is a time tested method of business expansion. Add to that the information technology area becoming the latest terrain for making inordinate profits out of government contracting in a number of western countries.
How, and why, Sri Lanka got caught in this IT web at this moment in its economic crisis juncture is the five billion dollar tourist visa question. At the centre of the controversy is Tiran Alles, the Public Security Minister. The Daily Financial Times devoted a day’s editorial to him on Wednesday, May 8, entitled, “Tiran Alles – the quintessential deal maker.” It recounts much of what is known about the man and his many deals. His first known deal making success in the 2005 Presidential Election is the single most political act to cost a presidential candidate an otherwise sure victory. The loser was Ranil Wickremesinghe and the winner of course was Mahinda Rajapaksa, the sole beneficiary of Tiran Alless’s alleged deal with the LTTE.
Yet here we are almost 20 years later, after the Rajapaksa era had come and gone, and Tiran Alles is a key minister in the caretaker administration of President Ranil Wickremesinghe. It would be no exaggeration to say that Mr. Alles is the most powerful minister in the Wickremesinghe cabinet, next to the President of course. Not infrequently, in spite of the President. Minister Alles got his man to be the IGP against all protests by everyone and in spite of loud demurring by the President. He recently signalled police to use their weapons to get rid of criminals. Shades of former Filipino President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. The Bar Association protested, but nothing happened. It made news but only in English and not the Sinhalese press, according to Daily FT.
It would not be unreasonable to say that no other Minister in the current cabinet has the power and the persistence to change the visa system the way Minister Alles did. If you can think of anyone else, you can write an article on him. But Minister Alles’s influence would seem to extend beyond the cabinet and even the government. Amidst all the opposition protests in parliament, the NPP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake would seem to have remained quiet. May be he was not in parliament and was in one of overseas travels. But I have not heard him weigh in on the visa matter. I would not have noticed the omission but for the allusion in the Daily FT editorial to the NPP’s silence on the matter, and its loaded question: What is the deal between the NPP and Tiran Alles? The NPP could simply answer this question by asking Minister Alles all the other questions that everyone else is asking.
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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