By Garvin Karunaratne

The Chinese Company- the China Merchants Port Holdings to whom the Hambantota Port and its 1235 acres of land was leased, insisting on as much as Rupees 23 million as Ground Rent for the miniscule bit of land where the five Wind Turbines are sited is a fore runner of what is in store for my Motherland.

The Five Turbines are sited on a very small section of the seashore that can even be claimed to belong to the sea.

The five Wind Turbines, the first  built in Sri Lanka in 1999 are outmoded and hardly turn out electricity that will warrant such a demanding amount. Generally a Ground Rent is a very small amount and it is used more to signify who is the owner. Evidently, the Chinese Company has decided to hold a sovereign country to ransom..

The Lesson is what is in store from this Shylock. To me it indicates that the country will be ruined and. to my thinking the earlier we get back this Port and its land the better.

We have a long history dating from 1977 when under the IMF dictate the Jayawardena Government made us privatize many commercial undertakings that the earlier Governments of leaders DS Senanayake and Sirimavo had established for the sake of the people. These Systems and Departments were very efficiently run by our administrators. We became self sufficient in rice production, in vegetables, eggs and fruit and fruit processing, in small industrial goods  and in producing textiles through PowerLooms and Handlooms.

I can write books on this aspect because I was one of the administrative officers who implemented the programmes. Our great leaders D.S.Senanayake and Sirimavo built up the infrastructure that helped the people, provided incentives for them to get into producing what the country needed. From 1977 when we accepted the dictate of the IMF we were compelled to close down all commercial undertakings and privatize them because otherwise the IMF would not give us assistance in the form of loans. The IMF and World Bank through giving us loans saw to it that we ruined the already developed production so that we had to have everything imported.. Our funds end in their countries to enrich them

In my words,

By the privatization of the Paddy Marketing Board and the Marketing Department Sri Lanka has dismantled the infrastructure for development established by the Government of D.S.Senanayake and had been built up over decades. It was this infrastructure that enabled the Government to implement the guaranteed and floor price scheme  for rice, other cereals, vegetables and fruits. Now the producers are at the mercy of the  traders and farmers are not interested in producing for the market because they cannot get a reasonable price. It is in the interests of Multinationals and Developed Countries  for our agricultural production to be sacrificed. This is a ploy to sell their wheat, other agricultural products and processed foods to the Third World countries.”

Privatization was the chief agenda of the Jayawardena Government.. Privatization- selling national assets to foreigners to get some cash has also been the policy of the Ranil Wickremasinghe Government.

The privatization of the Lanka Loha saw to it that small implements like spoons and knives had to be imported. Last year I saw knives made in Brazil and Mexico for sale in Colombo supermarkets. When I wanted  to buy a step ladder- a basic item that we can easily produce I could not find one made in Sri Lanka. At Matara I established a Factory making Crayons. My Planning Officer, a basic chemistry graduate found the art of making crayons at the Rahula College Science Lab and a Factory was established under Sumanapala Dahanayake, the Member of Parliament for Deniyaya in his capacity as President of the Cooperative Union. It was a grand success with island wide sales till the Jayawardena’s Open Economy killed it.  If we could have produced crayons of high quality there is nothing- absolutely nothing we cannot produce.

Today our Supermarkets are full of jam, fruit juice etc made in Australia and the USA. Before 1977 we were self sufficient in all Jam and Fruit Juice. That programme also meant that our producers mainly Chena farmers got high incomes for tomatoes, oranges, red pumpkin, ash pumpkin, melon  and many other vegetables and fruits. I was once in charge of the Tripoli Market the headquarters of the vegetable and fruit marketing scheme. It was I that was held responsible for studying the availability of vegetable produce all over the island, planning the purchase and sale throughout the country. We commanded a staff over  a thousand men and over a hundred lorries. We were  covering every producer fair in the country, to ensure that we purchased produce in competition with the traders, by offering a higher price than what the trader offered. Then we transported the goods to Colombo overnight and sold it in small sales outlets- there were around a hundred of our in Colombo- at rock bottom prices compelling the retailers to sell at low prices if they were to be in business. . This was the mechanism by which we controlled inflation.  The Department kept a margin of only 15% to cover transport costs and wastage in handling whereas the traders kept around a hundred percent- shared between the trader who purchased at the Fairs, the transport costs, the wholesaler in Colombo and the retailer.  I fixed the prices to purchase goods all over the island and the Department had large cold stores and a Canning Factory to produce processed food like Jam, Fruit Juice and Tomatoe Sauce.  Our canning factory worked 24 hours a day and our Assistant Commissioner Oswald Tillekeratne even built up overseas sales for our pineapples. That was a time when our producers got high incomes all due to the working of the Marketing Department. All Gone today- the result: poverty to our farmers and our dependance on imports- riches to foreign producers!

Every month the profit that we made was gone into in detail by our Commissioner BLW Fernando  and if we had incurred either a loss or a profit of over 10% we had to do  a lot of explaining. That was indeed a difficult task.

We Assistant Commissioners were always on the run, controlling purchases and supervising our shops.. It was aiding the farmer by purchasing produce. We purchased around 10 % of the crop, but we controlled the prices offered by the traders because they too had to increase their prices. That was the time when there were Van Sales of fruits and vegetables functioning till late at night on the streets in Colombo.

That was a System offering high prices to the producer  as well as ensuring  low prices to the consumer, a system that I have not seen in any other country-I have been working in five countries and roaming all over the world since leaving Sri Lanka.

Let me look forward to the day when we will take back the Hambantota Port. It is a national asset that has to be developed. Let me also hope that other privatized ventures like the Marketing Department and the Canning Factory will be re established. That is an essential part of the infrastructure that we require to provide good prices for our farmers and also to produce all our requirements of processed food.

. I have worked long in many districts including Hambantota and can assure anyone that we can produce fruit in the Districts of Hambantota, Matara, Ratnapura and Moneragala that can get processed for export and the Port is an essential part of that infrastructure. On a recent visit to the Lunugamvehera area, there were children with luscious mangoes chasing behind my car to sell them. The mango trees in Lunugamvehera, Tissa, Kataragama are full of mangoes- more than half go to waste.  This is true of other areas like Matale and Anuradhapura too.

The privatization of the Hambantota Port is not in our interest. The Port has to handle our produce for export As of now we have with great difficulty- even becoming indebted- built up a Port and have handed it over for a song  to a foreigner who can use that asset. We are the real loser.

With my experience of handling commercial type of undertakings in the Marketing Department and the Small Industries Department  and my studies in Agricultural Economics at doctoral level at accepted seats of learning- I can assure that all above ventures that have been privatized can be run efficiently and profitably.

The above assurance comes from someone who established the Youth Self Employment Programme of Bangladesh in 1983, which is today the premier programme of employment creation the world has known. It has established a record of guiding millions to become self employed.

Let me live to see that day when we can re establish our  lost development infrastructure and also take back the Port of Hambantota,. This Port will play an essential role in our country’s development.

Garvin Karunaratne,

Ph.D Michigan State University

Author of:How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka, (Godages )

                 How the IMF Saboitaged Third World Development,(Kindle/Godages)

1 st November 2018