Features
The early years of Dickmans Road and its environs
by Hugh Karunanayake
Dickmans Road in Bambalapitiya was given its name at the end of the 19th century. The road itself connecting Galle Road to Havelock Road (then called Bambalapitiya Road) existed even before the 1880s and at the time was one of the few roads linking the western seaboard with Colombo’s hinterland, but in its early years did not have a name.
There is no information available on how the road got its name. It was possibly after Cornelius Dickman a descendant from the Dutch who compiled and published a Manual of the Ceylon Civil Service. He was appointed to the Civil Service in 1868 and was Assistant Auditor General for 18 years before he retired in 1886. He however lived most of his life in Dematagoda, so there is a question mark against that possibility.
What we know for certain is that the Dickman name was tagged to this road around 1901 and remained so for more than a century until it was changed a few years ago to Lester James Peiris Mawatha to honour the well known film director who took up residence on that road in recent years.
The prominent landmark situated at the Galle Road end of the road is that of the Church of St Paul at Milagiriya built in 1848 on a large plot of land granted by the government. The area from Galle Road right up to Jawatte was called Milagiriya after a Portuguese church dedicated to Our Lady of Miracles which stood on the site of the Jawatte cemetery. At the site of the church was a well which supposedly had healing properties. St Paul’s Church, Milagiriya was located in a largely uninhabited area at the time known as Bambalapitiya.
St Paul’s Girls School which was established as a Parish School attached to the Church in 1887 is a national school today with over 4,000 pupils. At the turn of the twentieth century this area consisted of coconut and cinnamon estates. Among these was Bambalapitiya Estate a coconut estate of 42-acres and Bamabalapitiya watte, a cinnamon estate of 37-acres both belonging to Mudaliyar Pereira of Kollupitiya. Mrs Jeronis Peiris owned a 14-acre cinnamon estate also called Bambalapitiya. Stuart Peiris owned Richiewatte a 42-acre cinnamon estate which occupied much of the land between Lauries Road and Dickmans Road. Most of today’s suburb of Thimbirigasyaya was a 48-acre coconut cum cinnamon estate called Thimbirigasyaya owned by Adrian de Abrew Jayasekera.
Havelock Town was opened in 1901 with the creation of Layards Road, Elibank Road, and Skelton Road all leading off Dickmans Road. Havelock Park was also opened up during that time; the name commemorating the gubernatorial work of former Governor of Ceylon Sir Arthur Havelock. The Havelock Golf Club had its humble origins with a four hole course on the Havelock Park in the early 1900s.
The Burgher Recreation Club was for many years known as the Bambalapitiya Recreation Club also found its home on the Havelock Park in1906. The club itself was established in 1896 , its foundation meeting held in the verandah of a house called Ardgowan belonging to Mr. FJ Lucas Fernando Snr a wealthy landowner who was one of the first to build in the newly established Havelock Town. His property, “Norwood” on Layards Road extended into Elibank Road and its large grounds were used by the Bambalapitiya Recreation Club for its sports activities including cricket until it moved to Havelock Park.
Mr Fernando’s family including his two sons-in-law, Dr DC de Fonseka and JB de Fonseka and extended family were pioneer settlers in the Layards Road, Elibank Road area where successive generations resided for over a 100 years.
St Paul’s Milagiriya originally stood on extensive lands part of which were sold to finance the building of a new Church adjoining the site of the old one. The sale of land which occurred in1902 realised Rs 44,000 which went towards the construction of the new church. Mr HJ Peiris, a well known renter and plantation owner purchased some of the land which was later gifted to his elder daughter, Bernice, who married Dr EA Cooray one time member of the State Council, in 1911.
A few years later the Coorays built their palatial home, Belvoir, which stood opposite the church across Galle Road. Dr Cooray also gifted to the church the clock and its chiming bells which are in use at the church to this day. They also built two large two storied houses on Dickmans Road one of which was named Doniford which were for decades leased to Brown and Co as residence for its Chairman. Mr W. A. Mudie who was appointed Managing Director of Brown and Co in 1938 lived in “Doniford” for over 20 years. Those buildings were later amalgamated to form the Havelock Tour Inn during the 1970s and today form together with Belvoir, the Belvoir International School.
By the 1950s Dickmans Road and its connecting roads, Dickmans Lane, Dickmans Path, Bethesda Place, Ebert Place De Fonseka Place, Anderson Road, together with Layards Road, Elibank Road, and Skelton Road had developed into a tranquil cosmopolitan suburbia with much sought after homes of distinctive character. It is the aim of this article to recall some of the homes and associated personalities which breathed life to this area in mid twentieth century Ceylon.
The area was then populated with homes that were spacious and elegant and owned and occupied by professionals and landed proprietors who could afford an establishment usually with three or four domestic aides including cook, houseboy, chauffeur and the ubiquitous “ayah”. The average house had neatly tended gardens and in keeping with the trend of that era each house had a distinctive name often an anglicised one also in keeping with the times.
One family that lived on Dickmans Road for over 100 years is that of Magdon Ismail whose house was called Noor Mahal located at the Galle Road end of Dickmans Road opposite the St. Paul’s Church. Magdon Ismail was Director of the company called Taylor and Mackay and it was at his home that the inaugural meeting of the Havelock Golf Club took place in 1904 and he was elected its first President. In recent times this house was subject to an armed home invasion which attracted much publicity.
A couple of doors away was the home of lawyer Abdul Cader. On the opposite side was Donegal the two storied home of Heptula Abdulaly whose father established Eastern Aquaria in the back yard of their home and was a centre for the sale of tropical fish for many years. The Abdulalys continue to live in the house which is a well known landmark on the street. Dickmans Path which ran on the side of this home has been subsumed by the newly constructed Duplication Road running parallel to Galle Road. Among the well known residents of Dickmans Path was Dr C Amirthalingam, then Director of Fisheries and JL Silva, for many years General Manager of Ceylon Insurance Co.
Dickmans Lane which was on the opposite side to Dickman’s Path has also been obliterated from the map being swallowed by Duplication Road. Bethesda Place named after Bethesda Hall which adjoins it is a small road with about a dozen homes connecting De Fonseka Road. Bethesda Gospel Hall is a large building standing back from the road and carrying a banner permanently encrypted on the front facade of its main entrance porch with the words “The Lord Jesus is coming again . Are you ready?”. Hundreds of thousands of passers by would have over the years, read these words which could still be seen 95 years after they were inscribed.
The hall was built in April 1919. The land and the hall were gifted to the church by Isabel Amelia Loos a wealthy lady and wife of F.C. Loos, leading attorney of the day. Further on the same side of Dickmans Road was “Gitanjali” for many years the home of leading criminal lawyer GG Ponnambalam It was from this home that his son, Kumar, attended school at Royal College. The Ponnambalams later moved to Queens Road taking the name of the house to their new residence.
Lester James Peiris, the film director lived in this property. A few doors away from here was the home of Dr Turab Fazlebas, ENT Surgeon who moved to his newly built home “Gulistan” from Castle Street where he previously resided. Turab’s daughter, Sakina, was a well known speech pathologist working from the father’s home. Turab was the son in law of A Mamujee, a well known businessman of the day whose portrait was immortalised with its appearance in the much sought after book on Lionel Wendt published by Praeger in 1950.
Around here was Stubbs Place which had about a dozen homes including that of AM Rahim, the first Ceylonese MD of Henderson and Co. Two doors away was lawyer E.G.(Guy) Wikramanayake’s home “Sri Mahal” which stood beside Ebert Place. He migrated to Australia in the early 1970s where he passed away a few years later.
There were a few homes in Ebert place which was a “cul-de-sac”. A long resident family was the Seneviratnes headed by Postmaster-General Seneviratne and a large brood of children of whom the boys attended St Peter’s College. Almost every evening school friends and associates of the Seneviratne boys used to assemble at the turn off to Ebert Place and hang around chatting away even long after evening shadows had fallen. This very informal group was for some years in the 1950s/60s a part of social life in the area and participation extended to other young men from near and far.
The inevitable smoke was bought from the “kadai” adjoining Ebert Place which by itself was a popular shop in the locality for vegetables and groceries. Next to the kadai was the Havelock Town Post Office a popular public institution in the area. The home of Dunstan de Silva, the first President of the Aero Club of Ceylon founded in 1928, adjoined De Fonseka Place which led off Dickmans Road. Further down the road lived C.I Gunasekera famous cricketer and tennis player and vintage car enthusiast.
Around here was Anderson Road which is no more a cul de sac .Among the more notable residents on Anderson Road was Hildon Sansoni, reputed tennis player and ADC to successive Governors. His wife Barbara was equally renowned as a pioneer promoter of handloom fabrics and the founder of Barefoot in Kollupitiya. Their home became a sales centre for handloom fabrics in the sixties.
The Dickmans Road /Havelock Road intersection was the site for the second set of traffic lights to be installed in Colombo-the first was at the Turret Road/Galle Road Junction. At the end of Dickmans Road on the opposite side were the Bogala Flats built by graphite magnate Sir Ernest (E.P.A.) Fernando who built these apartments in the late 1940s on a site previously owned by a Maldivian and called “Didi Villa”. Sir Ernest opened his private nine hole golf course in Nawinna in 1958 but died not long after and the property was acquired by the government for the Ayurvedic Institute which still functions there.
Proceeding towards Galle Road on the left hand side of Dickmans Road was the home of AL Jayasuriya, later occupied by Dr CJC de Silva. The Jeevanjees lived a few doors away. Around here was “Cliveden” the home of Dr Leembruggen and “Clovelly” the home of Electrical Engineer GB Misso whose son, Vincent, a tea planter known to some Ceylon Society of Australia (CSA) members may still be resident there.
The turn off to Skelton Road was here and this road too hosted some well known families of that era. Among them was Sir Donatus Victoria who owned Victoria Hotel in the Pettah and who ran the railway catering service for many years. He lived in a house called “Alcoque” almost opposite to his brother JS Victoria’s residence on the same road. Architect Alles was another resident and Dr Thillainathan lived in a home called “Land’s End” which was located near the Wellawatte canal which skirted the end of the road.
Between Skelton Road and Elibank Road were a few houses on Dickmans Road. At Elibank Road at its corner with Dickmans Road stood the home of Mudaliyar Silva, a ship chandler. Next door was “Delmar ” the home of Dr Leo Peries whose brother Wilfred lived two doors away in his home “Leawood”. Wilfred Peries was Produce Broker at Mackwoods and later Director of the company. His only son Tony an esteemed former President of our CSA was the first Ceylonese Chairman of the leading mercantile firm of the time, George Steuart and Co.Tony would certainly have pleasant memories growing up in that area.
Other well known residents were the Ebramjees who lived in “Sadikot”, Dr Eric Schockman in “Havelock House” and Dallas Gunasekera brother of the cricketer C.I in “Thurlestone”. Former Chief Justice H.H. Basnayake lived in “Elibank House” to which he moved in the 1950s from his home on Havelock Road. His house had a reputation among legal circles for its well stocked library mainly of law books.
While the Lucas Fernanado property was easily the largest down Layards Road with its sprawling home “Norwood” it also had a large tract of unbuilt land adjoining it which was used as a place for drying laundered clothes by a cluster of washer families who were given access to the property. A couple of years after Lucas Fernando Jnr’s death in 1958 his family blocked out the land and was fully built upon . Among those who acquired a sub division was Mr Kasi Choksy a former. Finance Minister.
Almost opposite Norwood was the popular Trevine Gardens run by Ian Oorloff. The property was first owned by Phillip de Silva, a plumbago mine owner from whom the Nagel family acquired it. EF Don who was a former Secretary of the Havelock Golf Club during its tenure at Havelock Park lived down this road in his home named “Myrtles”. Another well known resident was Lyn Ludowyke who had the distinction of being appointed Professor of English at the University of Ceylon at the early age of 30 years.
The end of Layards Road connected with Lorenz Road which commenced from Galle Road. Lorenz Road was bordered on one side by the grounds of the Wellawatte kovil and on the other by an uninterrupted row of houses running almost the entire length of the road. The entire property including the section that abutted Layards Road originally belonged to Bambalapitiya Estate of Mudaliyar Pereira and later by his kinsman Wellawattage William Peiris whose descendants still live in adjoining homes at the end of Layards Road.
The Dickmans Road – Havelock Town area is now part of a bustling metropolis partly blighted by subdivided housing and commercial buildings that have had an impact on the area’s serene genteel tranquillity. It is only inevitable that the environmental impact of changing land use patterns and skyrocketing land values will bring in its wake social change. The blight of commercial tide which will eventually overrun this once elegant and fashionable neighbourhood seems inevitable, however unwelcome. These notes will hopefully help evoke some pleasant memories of a not too distant past especially to those who have known the area.
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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