Features
“Unorthodox” tactics
CONFESSIONS OF A GLOBAL GYPSY
Dr. Chandana (Chandi) Jayawardena DPhil
President – Chandi J. Associates Inc. Consulting, Canada
Founder & Administrator – Global Hospitality Forum
chandij@sympatico.ca
During my three years as the Director of Food & Beverage at the 500-room five-star hotel – Le Galadari Meridien in Colombo, I boldly tried out some “unorthodox” business tactics. I was learning, experimenting and fine-tuning a few concepts which helped me mid-career, especially after a couple of years when I became an international hotel General Manager. A few of these “unorthodox” methods failed or were rejected as unethical, but most worked well in improving our revenues, profits and team spirit. Here are a few examples:
BANQUET SPY
In late 1980s, seven, international branded hotels in Colombo (Le Meridien, Hilton, InterContinential, Ramada Renaissance, Holiday Inn, Oberoi and Taj) and three other properties with large banqueting facilities (Galle Face Hotel, Mount Lavinia Hotel and BMICH), competed for wedding business. They also competed for social, entertainment and corporate event business. On a normal day these ten properties hosted over 70 events and weddings.
With the opening of the Colombo Hilton in 1988, Le Galadari Meridien’s position as the leader in banquet business in Colombo was challenged. The culture in Colombo was to try the latest five-star hotel for up-market events. A key member of my management team – the Banquet Manager led the operational aspects of that department and sales related to the wedding business. A colleague of mine of the seven-member executive committee of the hotel, the Director of Sales led the hotels’ sales team to increase corporate banquet sales. We worked closely to ensure success, for the mutual benefit of our two divisions.
For success in the wedding business, the key was having the ‘personal touch’ with each wedding irrespective of the size of the reception. To handle four weddings a day was normal for our banquet staff, but it was often the most important day of the life of every bride, as well as for the groom and their families. We had to spend time with them, nurture relationships and look after details with empathy. We were able to achieve that to a great extent.
When it came to corporate events, we increased our attention to detail, public relations and customer service, but that was not enough. I told the key members of the banquet team and the sales team, that we needed to ‘think outside the box’ to continue our success in corporate banquet business. I was looking for new opportunities to do that.
Like all other major competitors in banquet business, Le Galadari Meridien had a large pool of casual banquet waiters, who were scheduled to work on a weekly basis, depending on the bookings. Having worked as a casual banquet waiter in top five five-star hotels in London just four years prior to that time, I appreciated that the training of all casual banquet waiters was essential. The Director of Human Resources, Training Manager, Banquet Manager and I attended the final selection interviews of all casual banquet waiters. After the selection, we trained them well and eventually hired the better ones to the permanent cadre.
One day, at an interview, I was impressed with an applicant for a casual banquet waiter position. This young man had only one-year part-time banqueting experience in a smaller five-star hotel. He was well groomed, spoke good English and did well at the interview. He also told the interview panel that as he was the proud owner of a second-hand motor cycle (which was a luxury for a young Lankan of 20 at then). Therefore, he would be able to come to work quickly from his home even during the hectic rush hour traffic. After hiring him, I noticed that this young man had a photographic memory. I asked him to meet me for a one-on-one meeting in my office.
I always believed in competitive intelligence. I was fascinated when reading a couple of books on how Japanese firms had forward-looking practices and produced knowledge about the competitive environment in order to improve organizational performance. It involves the systematic collection and analysis of information from multiple sources. In competition in any business, war or sport, it is essential to be engaged in competitive intelligence.
As done at Le Meridien, it was the normal practice at that time, for our nine competitors in the banquet business in Colombo, to display a prominent sign board listing details of each banquet event held on that day, in the lobby. The purpose of this sign board was to direct customers to different ballrooms and meeting rooms. That sign board was changed every night with details such as the host, the type of event, venue and time of each banquet booking for the next day.
When the newly recruited, part-time banquet waiter came to my office for our one-on-one meeting, he was nervous. I slowly explained my shrewd plan to him and he understood why I wanted him to visit each of the nine competitors every morning to gather information of all corporate and social events held that day. I arranged his overtime payment for four hours a day for that task, and also reimbursed the cost of gas for his motor cycle. When he returned, he worked serving at banquets for four hours a day. No one else knew about my private deal with him. It was a top-secret mission and he was my “spy”!
He dressed well for this work and spent maximum fifteen at each stop. He followed the same routine per competitor every morning – starting with a quick glance at the banquet sign board. Then he would lock himself in a public toilet in the lobby and record all of the details of each banquet on a small note pad. I cannot mention his name, as today he is a leading hotelier in Sri Lanka.
Around 12 noon every weekday, I would analyse the data collected by him. Through this initiative I had a very good understanding of the previous corporate banquet clients of our hotel now using competitor facilities, as well as new businesses and opportunities. I used this information to suggest to the sales team, whom to target in their sales calls and what to offer to increase our business. It worked well.
INTERNAL SALES
We mastered our external sales well for room and restaurant business, food festivals and stage shows that my team produced. Our promotional mix included regular sales calls, creative media advertisements, direct mail, innovative public relations and special sales promotions. In addition, I commenced focusing on our internal sales promotions by using lobby and elevator posters, food and wine displays as well as different gimmicks.
One day, I decided to introduce a competition to all service staff working in the ten food and beverage outlets at the hotel. The competition was aimed at increasing food sales as well as beverage sales. When I brain stormed with the Maître d’hôtel (restaurant managers), the team members managing the more expensive outlets with higher average checks were happy. A a few others felt that it would not be a fair competition, if I decided on the winners based on total sales volume.
At that point, I explained the criteria for the competition – teams were competing and not individual employees. Also, that the winners would be based on the greatest percentage improvement of average checks over the previous year, and not the total volume of revenue made. All agreed, and the competitive spirit we created exceeded all my targets and expectations.
I arranged for the Food and Beverage Analyst and the Food & Beverage Controller to provide a weekly leader analysis of the competition, during each weekly food and beverage team meetings. With the training department, I arranged special training on ‘up-selling’ food and beverage products. This initiative enhanced not only the revenue and profits, but also the team spirit. That year we increased average checks by 15%!
COMMUNICATION FLOW
Often in large units/hotels with 600/700 or more employees in several divisions and departments, the communication flow tends to slow down and at times, gets ‘lost in translation’. I always felt that once decisions were made by the executive committee and they identified who should be informed, the communication flow must be lightning fast and effective. The divisional heads should develop practical processes to ensure that condensed and interesting versions of the key messaging, flow seamlessly. Everything depended on the accuracy and the speed of information flow.
At Le Meridien the seven members of the executive committee (General Manager, Director of Rooms Division, Director of Food & Beverage, Financial Controller, Director of Human Resources, Director of Sales and Director of Engineering) had their weekly meeting every Tuesday at 4:00 pm. I did not want to send long memos to managers in my team without explaining key decisions made at the executive committee meeting. I wanted to do that face to face and as quickly as possible.
Therefore, I arranged for the weekly Food & Beverage Management meeting to be held every Wednesday morning. I would share all relevant information and decisions from the executive committee meeting, with my management team, promptly. I ensured that the meeting was short and the minutes were distributed, within an hour. By 3:00 pm each Wednesday, all 10 department heads in my division had a short, stand-up briefing with their operational teams. As a result, all 230 staff in my division were aware of key ‘must know’ information of the week within 24 hours.
One day, when the General Manager of the hotel had visited the coffee shop for a cup of coffee around 3:30 pm on a Wednesday, he was amazed how well informed the busboy who cleared his table was. This employee had mentioned that the staff were pleased about a corporate decision taken a day before that.
“How did you do that so fast, Chandi?”, the pleasantly surprised General Manager asked me. “That decision was made in Paris by the Le Meridien President on Tuesday morning, my boss, the VP – Asia sent me a fax about it on Tuesday afternoon from Singapore, and I informed you and the other EXCO members in Colombo about it less than 24 hours ago. Now a busboy in your coffee shop knows about that decision!” he added in a voice that blended happiness with amazement. He was very impressed.
CREATING THE ‘BUZZ’
In any business, a key for success is creating the ‘buzz’ through creative messaging to motivate and empower teams. When relevant people are treated well and communicated with effectively, they get excited about the organization, and they usually talk positively about products, services and people of the organization. That is simply a “win-win” situation.
At Le Meridien we did exactly that well, with our internal customer – the employees. Given the role played by a large number of top western musicians providing live music in three outlets, seven days a week, I treated them as members of our hotel family. As a result, the musicians acted as partners and ambassadors of the hotel among many of their fans. It was a simple formula.
We used the same concept of creating the ‘buzz’ in promoting every food festival, theme night and stage show we organized. Selling and public relations should never be limited to a small sales team, but to all of the staff as well as the associates such as other service providers (sponsors, suppliers and entertainers). As a result, we were always in the limelight and the ‘talk of the town’,
In addition to a host of younger artistes and bands who performed at the night club and the lobby bar at Le Meridien, we decided to do something different at our prime restaurant – La Palme D’or. I contracted a band led by a veteran musician who attracted an elite niche market. That band – Harold Seneviratne Combo was requested to provide music appropriate to a weekly theme night called: ‘Nostalgia ‘60’, which had to be extended by popular demand.
A GRAY LIE
In late 1980, there were no international, fast-food chains operating in Sri Lanka. As a result, some of the five-star hotels included items such as pizzas and hamburgers in the a la carte menus in the coffee shops. These relatively inexpensive dishes attracted attention and popularity, particularly in Colombo. With a view of riding that wave, I planned a month-long hamburger promotion at La Brasserie, hotel’s coffee shop. We wanted a creative advertising campaign.
The new General Manager of the hotel, Paul Finnegan told me, “I hear that our main competitor – Colombo Hilton is planning a similar Hamburger promotion in two months’ time. Can you organize this promotion sooner?” I agreed with him and placed it on a fast track. When he suggested that we should create a story that Le Meridien was planning to break a world record with the number of hamburgers we would serve during the month of April in 1989, I was not keen about lying about a world record.
“Come on, Chandi. It would be fun. Why don’t you use your creative mind to come up with something newsworthy, interesting and gives us a lot of publicity?” Paul motivated me to lie. I knew that ‘Gray lies’ were said to consist of lies that were ambiguous in nature or held the characteristics of a real lie yet, were still viewed as justifiable given the circumstance. With the blessings of my boss who was a chartered accountant, I worked on an interesting and ‘fun’ advertising campaign to promote ten special hamburger dishes created by our Executive Chef, Emile Castillo.
With input from Herman Gunasekera, the Managing Director of Creative Services Limited, who handed all advertisements for Le Galadari Meridien, we created a story line for the campaign. It claimed: “The Guinness Book of World Records lists 50,429 hamburgers sold during the month of July, 1986 at O’Malley’s Downtown Pub in Chicago, as the current world record. La Brasserie Coffee Shop of Le Galadari Meridien Hotel aims to break that world record during the month of April, 1989.”
To break that ‘fake’ world record, we had to serve over 1,681 hamburgers a day, which was an impossible target. However, I arranged a large black board prominently placed at the entrance to La Brasserie with a heading:
‘OUR PERFORMANCE SO FAR TO BREAK A WORLD RECORD IN HAMBURGER SALES…’
We had just three lines on the black board:
=World Record = 50,429 in a month
=Hamburgers served at La Brasserie so far in April =
=Balance number of Hamburgers we need to serve in April to break the world record =
I then gave ‘fake’ daily hamburger sales numbers to Christopher Ramsey, maître d’hôtel of La Brasserie. In an attempt, to sound real, I gave him different ‘fake’ numbers every day. His job was to enter those figures on the black board at the end of each day, irrespective of the actual numbers of hamburgers sold every day. This joke or the gimmick created so much ‘buzz’ and media publicity, we actually sold a large number of hamburgers. Based on the number I provided, we eventually surpassed the world record by a couple of dozens of hamburgers on April 30th. We received unprecedented publicity and we had to extend the hamburger promotion by another month! That was my last food promotion organized in Colombo.
By early May, 1989, I received a telephone call from one of my friends and school mates, Athula Senanayake. He had been promoted as the Food & Beverage Manager of Colombo Hilton, a few months prior to that. “Chandana, congratulations on your latest achievement! However, I am being given a hard time by my GM because of you. In front of all my colleagues, during the morning briefing today, he asked
me when would I be able to break a world record!”, Athula told me in a frustrated voice. To his annoyance, I laughed out loud.
“Machan, don’t worry too much. We never broke a world record. It was all fake! A joke which resulted in lot of publicity.” I told my friend. After a long pause, Athula said angrily, ‘You lying bastard! Your bloody hamburger promotion resulted in a miserable month for me! Shame on you!”
FINAL ‘CONFESSIONS…’ ARTICLE
After one more article on Feb. 26, the concluding article of this
weekly column: ‘Confessions of a Global Gypsy’ will be published on Mar. 5 by the Sunday Island. Thank you for your readership over the last two years.
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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