GALLE, TRINCOMALEE .HAMBANATOTA, COLOMBO AND JAFFNA NERVE CENTRES FOR A RAPID DEVELOPMENT DRIVE
Posted on September 30th, 2016
Dr SARATH Obeysekera
I am not a strategist like the people heading blue ship companies like Keels ,Aitken Spence ,Dimo .Laugh Gas,Softlogic ,Citrus ,etc etc .I am an engineer with much exposure all over the world and in Sri Lanka .I could have executed some scrupulous plans to acquire competitors and develop or destroy but I always thought that where the hell I will take the fortunes I would earn when I die .
I selected a path to establish my name to remember that I contributed to some development of this country ,full of short sighted politicians and business magnets
Prime Minister and few ministers seems to have some idea to spearhead the development ,but the whole government is swaying like a rudderless boat in the sea with one good captain but a useless and inefficient crew.
Many article were written how to Develop Galle by making the harbour as the development centre ,concentrate on converting the harbour into a Marina and establish associated Industries. We proposed to invest 25 million US Dollars but the top level ministers have no clue about developing .I found an investor not only for Yacht Repair Facility but to put up a high-rise nest to the harbour to augment Marine Development ,Tourist Board and dilly dallying ,and does not encourage any development .
Now some higher ups are planning to hand over the whole harbour to Indian party .
Hambanthota was also to be developed as a bunkering centre initially and develop a shipyard with Chinese funding ,for which I gave concept ,but nothing is moving ,Now they want to hand over whole Hambantota to Chinese. Refinery, Tank farm, LPG farms were planned and only talks and promises.Of course Mattala is now ready to be taken over by some unknown companies ,may be the Russians will come and develop a football city .like they acquired clubs in England ??
Trinco which is one of the best natural harbours is to be developed to do ship building ,power generation for the last two decades ,nothing is moving except the small shipyard we have established.IOC AND CPC are talking big and nothing is moving ,
Then Colombo Port City development was stalled for some stupid reason ,and now seems going ahead ,bur when I walk along Galle Face I see some red faced Chinese doing Bar bending and dredging Beira our fall and I hardly see a local working .If this project is accelerated ,Port City can provide employment to over 2-300 thousand people .
But they want to hand over Eastern Terminal to outside parties ,to show that we Sri Lankans cannot manage and develop ?
Colombo Dockyard run by Japs are nor using local labour even for menial jobs like cleaning tanks of ships with some Indian Labour quietly hidden inside the harbour, before even signing of ETCA.GMOA should make a surprise visit to Harbour !
Jaffna with a very high man power bank , neglected with CV playing hell, not allowing any other investor to come on Theasawalama Concept ? Otherwise Karainagar and Killinochchi can be centre for massive development drive with ex combatants available in plenty to work, no tourism, no marine industry bur only motor cycle riding young people living on Dollars an Kroners sent by their diaspora relatives and consuming liquor ?
If I am wrong in expressing my candid opinion I invite the Chambers of Commerce to call for a session to deliberate the ideas of development based on these nerve centres and advise the government to change the course of sailing route out if this storm .
OPA and GMOA with Comrade Starlin fighting for their own survival and JOC pouring fuel to the fire ?
Dr SARATH Obeysekera
September 30th, 2016 at 4:02 pm
I am PUZZLED, with Sri Lanka on its back unable to service existing loans, and under IMF pressure to raise taxes and cutback government expenditures, from WHERE is the Yamapalanaya GoSL going to get the MONEY for these Development Drives?
Champika Ranawaka talks incessantly about his Megalopolis project, but all he is able to showare the Colombo Poert Project and the Highway projects started with Chinese money under the MR GoSL!
Ana even those, after DEMONIZING China and accusing the previous government of massive corruption, the Yamapalana govt had to CRAWL ON ITS KNEES to the Chinese to get those projects REVIVED under LESS FAVORABLE terms!
Only a few months ago, the IMF and the World Bankl declined requests for NEW LOANS from the GoSL. So, I ask AGAIN, where is MONEY coming from to pay for these projects, and how is a BANKRUPT government going to service those loans on top of the previous loans they are unable to service without raising more taxes??
Is this just INTERMINABLE PR propaganda on Projects that will never be built? I hope the government will EXPLAIN its budgeting for these things MORE TRANSPARENTLY to us concerned folks!
As a Sri Lankan Patriot, I hope these plans will bear fruit, without selling the country to its enemies!
September 30th, 2016 at 4:44 pm
“GALLE, TRINCOMALEE .HAMBANATOTA, COLOMBO AND JAFFNA”
3 out of 5 of those (or 60%) have a SOUTH ENDIAN majority!!
Wrong approach.
Jaffna and Trinco can NEVER become economic nerve centers because ENDIA and CHINA will clash over these. In Jaffna people are VERY BACKWARD. They don’t want development. Ever heard ANY Jaffna MP talking of development? NO!
Why? Because they want to live BACKWARD. ALL govt.s that tried to develop them were KICKED OUT.
October 1st, 2016 at 3:09 am
This UNP is trying to privatise state enterprises suggesting that they are loss making. I would like to point out to this treacherous UNP Government that they have no right to privatise any state enterprises since they belong to the people of Sri Lanka in general and is not their private property to privatise as they wish. If state enterprises are loss making, appoint a good management team to manage the state enterprise properly. This treacherous UNP Government is privatising state enterprises citing loss making as an excuse since they are also privatising even profit making state enterprises. Actually this UNP Government is selling all state enterprises to their friends in high places and to companies of those foreign powers who helped them come to power monetarily and via totally false propaganda during their election campaign and this is their pay back.
We would warn any buyer of any state enterprises being privatised by this treacherous UNP Government that as soon as a a new Government comes to power, all these selling of state enterprises will be considered null and void and anyone who buys up any of these state enterprises will have to bear the loss of buying any state enterprise. Therefore we urge all potential buyers not to buy any state enterprise since as soon as a new Government comes to power, all such selling of state enterprises will be considered null and void and they will only end up making a loss.
October 1st, 2016 at 3:10 am
It is best a new political party is formed to counter the wide ranging privatization of state assets programme of the UNP which envisages privatising even healthcare, water, electricity etc., to ensure that the rice farmer is empowered and not destroyed as this yahapalanaya government is doing and to ensure that 2600 years of rice farming is not destroyed, to ensure that other crop growers get a fair deal for their produce, to encourage local industries and companies by taxing imports, to create and empower and rehabilitate local industries like the Valachchanai paper plant, Puttlam, and KKS cement factories, Kanthale and Pelawatta sugar factories, to build new tyre producing factories, to build new fish tin canning factories, to build new fruit juice, jam producing factories, to create a more efficient food storage and transport to market system including proper storage and refrigeration of vegetables, fruits etc., to encourage local companies by taxing imports, to encourage school leavers to take up vocational training programmes and to create a vocational training to youth employment creation programme where youth are helped to start up their own SMEs, to change our diet from a wheat based diet to a rice based diet, to encourage farmers to produce our own milk by encouraging the dairy industry and to build factories to produce our own powdered milk etc.
October 1st, 2016 at 3:11 am
We need to produce our own food and create a more efficient system to convey perishable food items from farm to market. I also agree that with so much vegetables and fruit, we need some plants to produce our own fruit juice and jams. We need the Palewatte and Kanthale sugar factories to produce our own sugar. We need to reinstate the KKS, Puttlam cement factories and the Valachchanei paper factory.
We need to reinstate a tyre producing factory. We also need a number of fish tin canning factories. We need to convert from a wheat based diet to a rice and kurakkan based diet. We need to encourage our own industries and entrepreneurs by taxing imports. We need to reinstate the handloom industry.
We need more vocational training colleges and most importantly a comprehensive vocationally trained youth to employment programme where the youth are helped start their own SMEs and helped until they succeed.
We need to vastly improve our dairy industry by importing milk cows and ensuring that we produce all the required milk we need. We need to build our own milk power producing factories. We also need to expand massively Sathosa and the cooperative system islandwide.
We also need a number of organic/ inorganic fertilizer producing factories.
If we do all this by taxing imports and encouraging local farmers, vocationally trained youth to employment programme by encouraging youth to start SMEs, local industries we will be able to reduce spending our foreign exchange, create massive employment opportunities, reduce massively cost of food and develop our country further.