Features
The Value of Goodness – employing business profits to help the needy
(Excerpted from the autobiography of Merrill J. Fernando)
A generous man will prosper;
he who refreshes will himself be refreshed Bible book of proverbs
My mother was the first genuine practitioner of community responsibility that I knew. She had never heard of Corporate Social Responsibility but her faith, upbringing, and innate goodness commanded that she bear some accountability for her neighbours’ wellbeing. Her instinctive and visible generosity was of direct benefit, in many small ways, to the less advantaged in our village community of Pallansena. Ours was a family of moderate means and by no means affluent, but it is my view that sharing comes easily, and more naturally, to those of a modest background.
As a principled human being, one cannot ignore one’s less fortunate neighbour. Similarly, as an entrepreneur, you cannot operate in isolation, indifferent to the plight of the deprived and the marginalized of the community, who may also, in some way, be contributing to your affluence. As a child I learnt that lesson from my mother and carried it into my later life as an entrepreneur.
My decision to share part of my gains with the less fortunate was a natural outcome of that early lesson and had nothing to do with an impersonal Board decision to add value to a company bottom line.
In 1962, when I set up MJF Company, I had 18 employees, and, at the end of the year, I gave each a small sum of money to buy school uniforms, books, shoes, and other simple necessities for their children. Business was good and I had more money than I had ever handled before. Unwittingly, I had come to a cross-roads in my life, when I made a very conscious decision to share part of the surplus value that my business created with the less fortunate, who actually helped me to create that value. That was the first practical expression of the lesson I learnt from my mother and, unknowingly, the first step on the long road which, four decades later, led to the Merrill J. Fernando Charitable Foundation.
The MJF Charitable Foundation: Birth and growth With the growth of the company, the expansion of the workforce, and increases in personal gain, the Human Service aspect of my business compelled a more formalized and structured approach. Therefore, in 2002, the MJF Charitable Foundation (MJFCF) was incorporated. From that small beginning, today, the Foundation sponsors over 100 projects annually, touching the lives of over 60,000 people in the plantations and the wider community.
Lest the use of the word ‘Charitable’ be misunderstood, the core philosophy of the initiative is ‘Empowerment with Dignity,’ enabling disadvantaged individuals and communities to become self-sufficient. I have no patience with, nor sympathy for, the idle who seek handouts. The MJFCF focuses on Empowerment, specifically avoiding the possibility of creating dependence, as often happens in conventional aid models. Beneficiaries are motivated to nurture their inherent abilities and translate those to life-enriching initiatives, in order to make the humanitarian projects of the MJFCF sustainable.
The Foundation initiatives, which have reached out to all districts of the island, especially areas with relatively-underdeveloped infrastructure, radiate from two centres, one in Moratuwa, about 20 kilometres south of Colombo, and the other in Kalkudah, 280 kilometres from Colombo, in the Eastern Province.
MJFCF Center Moratuwa
Some years previously, I had purchased a 10-acre premises in Moratuwa, a silent garment factory complex, which eventually formed the nucleus of the Foundation’s activities. That was another one of the strategic investments I used to make from time to time, as mentioned earlier. By 2011, it had been converted to a multi-purpose transformational centre with facilities for therapy, learning, and vocational training for the differently-abled, pre-school, women’s development, ICT and graphics, carpentry, culinary and cookery, sports and physical fitness training and much more. The Moratuwa Centre is the flagship of the Foundation.
In 2011, in a simple ceremony, I set down 20 mango plants at various points in the Moratuwa premises. In subsequent visits, over the next decade, I have watched these trees gradually blossoming and fruiting. Along with those mango trees, the purpose of the center has also grown and sent out branches all over the country; the fruits of those endeavours are reflected in the lives of children, individuals, and communities, enriched and empowered despite inherent inadequacies.
Moratuwa is where it all began and the rehabilitation and enabling programs started to take shape. Over 300 children with Down syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy, and other developmental disorders have benefited from the daily programs designed to meet wide-ranging individual needs. Our dedicated teams have engaged disabled children in various vocational training initiatives, ranging from music, cookery, and electronics to agriculture.
This program has produced a drumming troupe consisting entirely of Down syndrome children, who have performed with maestro Ravi Bandu. There are others who have learnt skills in baking, sewing, and rug-weaving, competencies which will enable them to actually earn a living. The ‘Rainbow Centre,’ as the rehabilitation unit is known, has truly brought colour, light, and variety to the lives of many children, who would otherwise be condemned to an existence of dreary darkness.
The center provides specialized and individual attention, which are not available in mainstream schools, for children with developmental disorders. Many such children are from low income families, for whom private therapy is not even a distant dream. The physiotherapy unit at the center provides weekly, free-of-cost services, as opposed to national hospitals, where the concerned parents would be fortunate to obtain an appointment once in three months. The regular therapeutic and training engagements ensure the continuity of developmental attention to affected children, whilst enabling mapping and evaluation of progress.
One of its most important and rewarding programs has been the Women’s Development Initiative. Over the past decade, over 1,000 women have benefited, acquiring skills in cookery and sewing. A women’s group has been provided a sales outlet in Moratuwa, to distribute their products through Uber Eats, enabling them to market their food as far away as Peliyagoda!
MJF Center East
After the Moratuwa Centre had become fully functional, I instructed Anura Gunasekera, a Senior Manager in our company, to find suitable land for similar centers in the north and the east. That led to the purchase of a 20-acre abandoned cashew plantation in Kalkudah which, in 2018, opened for operation as a fully-equipped duplicate of the Moratuwa Center, catering to a similar spectrum of activities.
These two main centers are supported by sub-facilities in Peliyagoda, Pallansena, Pitipane, Siyambalanduwa, Point Pedro, Ampara, Udawalawe, Ambagahawatte, and Weligama. The Ambagahawatte facility is dedicated to the rehabilitation and therapy for children with cerebral palsy and other developmental disorders.
The Eastern Province has no other such facility that provides a multiplicity of interventions, addressing a wide spectrum of issues related to both children and adults. On a broad front, there are similarities between the individual and community needs in the societies that the two centers address. However, the requirements of the eastern society are compounded by the regional impact of our long ethnic war, the 2004 tsunami, and the impact of the normal misfortunes common to scattered, but numerous farming and fishing communities, which are always at the mercy of disruptions to the climate, the weather, and the marketability of their produce.
The other factor is that in a region, in which the civilian administrative infrastructure is hard-pressed to meet the normal, basic needs of the larger community, the provision of specialized, transformational initiatives targeting special individuals and groups, naturally become a secondary consideration. Hence, in terms of impact and consequence, Kalkudah possibly supersedes Moratuwa, as it fills a huge community service gap in the region.
Its first programme commenced in the latter part of 2018, targeting children of several age groups with a wide range of learning and developmental activities. In July we launched several rehabilitation and teaching programmes for children with special needs, especially sensory and cognitive impairment, replicating the ‘Rainbow Centre’ activities of the Moratuwa complex.
The Eastern Province, as in the north, is a region with a high proportion of families led by single women. In view of the shortage of casual. low-middle level employment opportunities in the region, unlike in an urban environment, providing avenues of steady income for such women was a special focus of the center. Therefore, we designed several agri-based interventions, involving these women in the cultivation of short-term crops, on land in close proximity to their homes, ensuring both empowerment and income generation through occupations they were comfortable with.
All these centers are run by dedicated groups of people, many of the individuals being specialists in the care-giving and rehabilitation facilities that we offer. Rehana Wettasinghe has, for many years, been the driving force at the Moratuwa Centre, whilst Mark Patterson is the Head of the Eastern Centre. I am truly appreciative of the care and attention that these individuals and their teams bring to an immensely-challenging assignment, which requires devotion and a consuming passion for what they do, far surpassing the normal obligation to duty.
Post tsunami expansion
The 2004, Boxing Day tsunami, the greatest natural disaster in modern times, devastated our communities along the island’s entire coastline. The estimated death toll was around 40,000, whilst the long-term damage to livelihoods and normal life was inestimable. The scale of the disaster and the consequent rehabilitation requirements compelled an unplanned, exponential expansion of the scope of the Foundation. Overnight, our mission was forced to grow wings.
Dilhan and a colleague, who visited the south as soon as the waters receded, first selected 55 families for immediate rehabilitation. In a parallel move in Colombo we set up a Tsunami Relief Logistics Centre. Our teams visited Hambantota, Ambalantota, Rekawa, and Kilinochchi and established refugee centres where affected people were provided with meals. We also visited and assisted, with the help of the Government forces, in areas in the north which were under LTTE control. This was an exercise which required a high degree of diplomacy and a transparent display of sensitivity, to the custodians of a society which had been engaged in a war of attrition with the State for over two decades.
Fishing communities were rehabilitated with funding for the purchase of boats, nets, and other equipment, working with CEYNOR a Sri Lankan Government and NORAD Joint Venture. According to one assessment, in the tsunami-hit areas, only 10% of the boats and fishing gear had survived. Over 200 bicycles were also provided, to enable fishermen to transport their daily catch at the end of the day. Provision of basic housing for those who lost their dwellings was another issue that we addressed. The focus was entirely on enabling the beneficiaries to become self-sufficient, in the shortest possible time.
Small Entrepreneur Program (SEP)
Assistance on a different scale was provided to small-time single entrepreneurs, people who were identified as having the capacity to develop and run a small industry on their own and expand it gradually, whilst providing employment to others in the community. One of the first of such beneficiaries was a mushroom grower, a single mother, who had lost everything in the tsunami. That was the beginning of the Small Entrepreneur Program (SEP), which eventually grew in to a separate project of its own, empowering over 2,000 individuals and benefiting their families and communities. In our closely-connected rural farming societies, where the SEP has been most active, caring and sharing are still very lively community virtues.
This scheme included Ayurveda practitioners, watchmakers, tailors, builders, papadam producers, carpenters, potters, fruit cultivators, beauty therapists, and textile manufacturers; practitioners of diverse trades and skills, bound by a common misfortune and driven by a single desire – the determination to re-establish themselves as independent entrepreneurs and to regain personal responsibility for their respective destinies. Some of the products of such enterprises, such as the specialised `Mankada’ pottery from a small community in Uda Walawe, have been marketed in Poland, New Zealand, and Australia, riding on the back of the Dilmah tea marketing network.
The SEP soon generated its own dynamic and close upon 1,000 different projects have now been launched in various parts of the country. This program includes an apprenticeship course, in which are trained anew in various skills and assisted to set themselves up in independent enterprise thereafter. The project also addresses the rehabilitation of ex-prisoners, who demonstrate a genuine desire to reform themselves and be accepted as responsible members of society. To date nearly 300 former prisoners have been assisted and not one has reverted to crime.
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- Arts and crafts – opportunities for the disempowered and the differently abled
In fact, one ex-prisoner, who was released to society on conditional parole, set up an orange orchard in Ampara with assistance from the SEP and made such a success of the project that the outgrower system he generated eventually spread across a couple of hundred acres, benefiting several communities. He also launched a yoghurt production business, purchasing the milk from village cattle owners, creating a new enterprise with multiple benefits. I am very glad that Dilhan, with his insistence, dispelled my initial reluctance to get involved with this individual with a decidedly violent past.
SEP and its role in the North and East
The collateral damage of armed conflict is most visible in the resultant disruption to family life. Men go to war, whilst wives, mothers, and sisters stay back to look after the home and the children. In our war, as in such conflicts elsewhere in the world, many of the men did not return, leaving families to be led by single women. This problem seemed to be more acute in the north and the east than elsewhere in our country.
The Foundation was able to connect with a dedicated and civic-minded Christian priest, Father Damian Soosapillai of Point Pedro, and through him, give livelihood assistance to about 500 war widows. These single women were provided with the necessary equipment and facilitation, to practice trades and skills interrupted by the war or given training in new vocations so that they could quickly take charge of their own lives.
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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