KAMALIKA PIERIS
The Rajapaksa
period saw several advances in the university sector. The Ocean University was established by Act No
31 of 2014 to provide graduate and diploma level training in fisheries, marine
and nautical engineering. It is located
in Mattakuliya, Colombo. It offers degrees in Fisheries, Marine Science, Marine
Engineering, and Transportation Management & Logistics Coastal & Marine
Resources Management. There are certificate courses in Diving, Welding and
mechanics of Floating Vessels. The first convocation was held in 2016.
The Sri Lanka
Technological Campus was started in September 2015. It is a subsidiary of Sri Lanka Telecom. It is a
private institute conducting programs in electronics, telecommunications and
computing. The main campus is at Padduka in the former satellite station
premises. It is the first corporate funded, fully residential non-state
university in Sri Lanka. The curriculum is
fashioned after the global standards set by Washington
Accord for Engineering degrees and Sydney Accord for
Technology degrees. Its degree programmes are recognized by the
University Grants commission.
Kotelawala Defence
Academy started to train doctors, because the armed
forces needed more doctors. There was a shortage of doctors in the
army, said Gotabhaya Rajapaksa in 2017. Our goal was to find a solution
to this problem by establishing a new medical faculty.” The First Batch of
Officer Cadets of the Faculty of Medicine of the General Sir John Kotelawala
Defence University were conferred with the Degree of Bachelor of Medicine and
Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) in 2014.
University of Moratuwa had produced very good electronic
graduates but there were no
opportunities in electronics in Sri Lanka. The big companies were not interested
and there was no local electronics industry, the graduates were going
elsewhere. In 2014, government granted
Rs 160 million for an Advanced Electronic Design Centre at University of
Moratuwa. This grant enabled them to purchase electronic design automation
tools, software for designing circuit board and chips through automation
process. These were very expensive and no
local company could afford them. The
centre was functioning by 2015.
Mahinda Rajapaksa
made a considerable contribution to the energy sector. Both ‘Norochcholai’ and
‘Kerawalapitiya’ were started during Rajapaksa’s period of rule. The Lakvijaya Power Station is in Norochcholai, Puttalam. It is the largest power station in Sri Lanka. Construction began on 11 May 2006, with the
first unit commissioning on 22 March 2011. There was an awful fuss when Norochcholai
was considered, saying it was bad for the environment, because Norochcholai is
coal fired.
The Yugadanavi
Power Station (also known as Kerawalapitiya
Power Station) is a 300 MW, oil-fired power station located in Kerawalapitiya in Wattala. It uses heavy fuel oil. Kerawalapitiya power
plant is owned by, West Coast Power Ltd, a government owned entity
Construction
of the power station began in November 2007, the first 200
MW phase was completed in a record 10 months and was inaugurated by President Rajapaksa on 8
December 2008. The plant had to be available to the CEB by November 2009 to
avoid power cuts. The second phase was completed in February
2010. Kerawalapitiya is today
one of the largest power plants in the country with 300MW capacity. It is
second only to the 900MW Norochcholai coal power plant.
Eng. J.A. S Perera, CEO of WCPL, provided a
history of the project, in an interview with the media. This land was owned by
Ceylon Electricity Board for a long time and it was intended to put up a
combined cycle power plant by CEB, he said. There had been several attempts by
the CEB to build a power plant but none of them succeeded for various reasons.
The Rajapaksa government which came to power in 2005 made a fresh attempt.
Lakdhanvi Ltd was selected as contractor to
build the plant by a Cabinet appointed tender board to build a 300MW plant that
can operate on liquefied natural gas, heavy fuel and auto diesel. That attempt
also failed as the Ministry of Finance did not permit the CEB to borrow USD 300
million for the purpose or get a loan to build it.
The Finance Ministry told the Power Ministry
that the project would have to be outsourced. They wanted private investors to
invest. The
war was at its height and it was not easy to get investors. A new company was
set up in the name of West Coast Power Ltd to raise around USD 300 million for
the purpose.
The WCPL went to banks but no Sri Lankan bank
was able to give such a large amount. Finally HSBC Hong Kong agreed to give
loan for 70 per cent of the project cost but demanded a government guarantee,
since the WCPL was a new company. Euro 152.2 million loan was given by HSBC
PLC-United Kingdom and France to finance the project, in four 12-year tranches
and one 10-year tranche.
Even then the WCPL still needed to raise 30
per cent of the cost by way of equity. The EPF agreed to invest Rs. 2,975
million while Lanka Electricity Co. (LECO) agreed to put up Rs. 2,000. The
National Savings Bank and ETF also agreed to give loans. These were converted
to WCPL equity. Ministry of Finance including the NSB and ETF has 50%, EPF has
27.05%, LECO has 18.18% and Lakdhanavi 4.77% of the shares. Unlike in a normal
equity investment scenario, the interest to NSB and ETF was also used to
finance cost of the project.
Equity investors usually do not take equity
until funds for the entire project is secured. In this case, the investors put
in their money without waiting for this, taking a very high risk. If WCPL
failed to get the loans, these equity investments of EPF, LECO, NSB and ETF would
have led to a major crisis for those organizations. That was the kind of risk
they took. The WCPL never had to spend more than its original equity of 12,425
million rupees and 152 million Euros, said Perera.
We have kept this power plant in an excellent
condition. We have won many international awards. It is one of the very few
combined cycle power plants in the entire world running on heavy fuel oil,
which is cheaper than diesel. CEB only wanted a diesel operated power plant.
Operation with diesel, which is a much cleaner fuel, is lot easier. But by
operating on heavy fuel oil, we save this country more than ten billion rupees
a year.
The Kerawalapitiya power plant helped to avoid
power cuts on many occasions. We came on line in 2009 and avoided the predicted
power cut. There were several dry years
for the CEB after that. During those years, this power plant did the bull work
for the CEB. There were many failures at
Norochcholai too.
No other power project has been as unfairly
criticized as this. Now the plant is operational and making profits, so it is
easy for people to criticize. Nobody now appreciates the situation which had
prevailed when this power plant was constructed. There was a global financial
crisis. Banks would not lend any money. Many big banks collapsed. There was a
war going on and security threats. Even the engineering drawings of this very
power plant had once been found in an LTTE camp in the North, concluded Perera.
The Rajapaksa
government was a pioneer in solar energy. LOLC Group Company Sagasolar Power
opened Sri Lanka’s first ever utility scale solar power plant in Baruthankanda,
Hambantota in 2016. The construction had started in 2010 and was completed
in 2015 at a cost of US$ 18 million. This plant is over seven times the size of
the largest solar project in Sri Lanka, said the media. It has the capacity to
produce 10MW of power that will be given to the national grid. The project will provide 20GWh which will be
sufficient to provide the annual electricity needed so 15,000 typical Sri Lanka
homes.
Sri Lanka Navy had re-established its
Hydrographic Wing in 2012. In 2018, it
had earned Rs. 1.69 million by providing professional consultancy services and
bathymetric surveys for private sector institutes. In 2017, there was an MOU
with Netherlands to use the Sri Lanka Navy store in Galle, to store weapons needed by its personnel for
protection of vessels. They were storing them in Singapore till now. Sri Lanka,
under Mahinda Rajapaksa had provided this storage for many private firms. This
is the first with a government, stated the media.
The Rajapaksa government opened a newly built
state-of-the-art fish trade centre at Peliyagoda in the outskirts of Colombo In
2011. This replaced the St. John’s fish market built in 1894 in Pettah,
Colombo. The new Central Fish Market Complex, situated on a 3.17 hectare
reclaimed marshy land along the main Katunayake airport expressway, was built
at a cost of 1.7 billion rupees. The Asian Development Bank provided 675
million rupees and the government provided the remainder.
This wholesale fish complex has 148 stalls on
the ground floor. The top floors have been allocated for banks, post offices,
police services, a restaurant, and a quality control room. The complex also had
25-metric tonne ice factory, three cold storages, and a water purifying plant. A
modern parking facility to accommodate 500 cars was planned for. Sri Lanka Fisheries
Corporation had in 2011 signed an
agreement with the Power Asia International Company for this car park. The
Peliyagoda fish market complex is expected to become a distribution and selling
centre of fish to all corners of the country, said the media in 2011.
Mahinda Rajapaksa
had, in March 2012, negotiated a Japanese Development
Assistance (ODA) loan package to Sri Lanka administered through Japan
International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to supply of 124 ambulances and provide
four secondary hospitals Galgamuwa, Kalawanchikudy, Teldeniya and Warakapola,
with facilities and necessary equipment to implement early detection, treatment
and prevention of non-communicable diseases.
Kaluwanchikudi Base Hospital and Warakapola
Base Hospital were refurbished first. Theldeniya Base Hospital complex was done in
2017.
Theldeniya Base Hospital was revamped with a
five storied Operation Theater Complex, Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU),
Judicial Medical Office Unit and latest bio medical equipment.
Rajapaksa supporters complained in 2015 that the UNP had removed
the Mahindodaya” name board from the technology labs set up in schools country
wide. They also complained that Yahapalana was sabotaging the projects
started by Rajapaksa.
Construction work on the multi million rupee
Information Technology Park at Hambantota was stopped after Yahapalana came in,
observed COPE in 2017. The construction work was stopped after completing three
stories out of seven because the constructor failed to finish the work on time,
said the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission. Several investors including
Intel Corporation, IBM, two universities from India and Singapore, Tech One
Global, and Mobitel had expressed willingness earlier to set up IT ventures at
this IT Park.
The Rajagiriya flyover, touted as Sri Lanka
longest flyover, a four lane structure, was completed in January 2018. It was
initiated by Rajapaksa. Yahapalana government had modified the plan and the
traffic jams are continuing despite the flyover.
Gotabhaya Rajapaksa had made improvements to
the parks and central spaces, through the UDA. Daily
Mirror of 5.5.17 had a two page spread on the
jogging tracks and walking paths round Colombo. There was Diyath Uyana opened
in 2011, which was attracting scores of locals, non locals and also
cyclists. Crowds come flooding in, said
the report.
There
was the Diyawanna jogging track, well lit by solar powered lamps and with
benches to sit and enjoy the breath taking view of Parliament and Diyawanna
oya. The Kumbulewewa jogging track which overlooks a picturesque stretch of paddy fields is
located near the Diyawanna track. Occasionally, one may observe local farmers
tending to their harvest.
The
Bellanwila jogging track also had benches and a breathtaking view of lake
around Pillawa temple .The Beddegana
wetland park, was a tranquil haven of 18
hectares rich in lush foliage, marshy land home to several endemic birds
dragonflies and butterflies. Urban wetland park Nawala, was used for jogging.
It had lotus shaped ponds. Independence Square is now a jogging and cycling
track with an open air gym. Viharamaha Devi Park was well lit by solar powered
lamps. There were public toilets. There were bins along the pathways.
But these
walkways and cycling paths were neglected when Yahapalana government came to
power. Under the Rajapaksa government
these parks were looked after by the military, Yahapalana withdrew the army. Authorities, such as RDA, Municipal
council, and the Provincial road development authority were not prepared to look after them. Today
these parks and walkways are neglected. They are also dangerous, with snakes
and crocodiles, complained users.
Bellanwila jogging track is going to rack and ruin, thousands used it,
they said.
The 450 meter-long Wattala exercise track used by hundreds of residents daily for
walking, jogging and practicing yoga,
was destroyed in 2016 in a
spectacular manner, at midnight with crowbars and bulldozers. The
solar powdered lamps also went. It was alleged that the track was destroyed so
that a powerful insurance company could build a massive housing complex. The argument
that it was built on private land was dismissed. The SLLRDC said the exercise
track had been built on a canal reservation area that came under the purview of
the SLLRDC and therefore it was state land. The track was restored following public
outcry, but
it was no longer usable.
Projects started by Mahinda Rajapaksa were not
completed because Mahinda Rajapaksa in his greed for power failed to complete
his term of office. He had two more years to go. If he had stayed on, the projects he started would have been
completed. Now Yahapalana
government is completing the projects
started by Rajapaksa. Rajapaksa supporters cannot bear this.
Former Minister
of Prison Reforms and Rehabilitation Chandrasiri Gajadeera
accused Yahapalana government of taking credit for constructing a modern prison
to international standards at Angunakolapelessa. “Former Speaker Chamal
Rajapaksa and I laid the foundation stone for the Angunakolapelessa prison and
all work was done by the previous government, but this government will open
it next month,” he said in
February 2017.
A test run on the Matara-Beliatte
stretch of the southern railway extension took place amidst cheers and boos, in
January 2019. A group of protesters, holding photographs of former
President Mahinda Rajapaksa, delayed the start of the train at the
Beliatta station by blocking the line. A
second group stopped the train
midway, demanding compensation. A third group of Rajapaksa supporters
protested at the Bambarenda station.
When the Matara-
Beliatta line was completed, and the first train was ready to depart from Matara
railway station, in April 2019, these supporters turned up again. They put
up a banner congratulating Mahinda Rajapaksa for initiating the project. Mahinda Rajapaksa supporters were highly
worked up and it was a strong protest. Television cameras recorded Rajapaksa
supporters and Yahapalana supporters, yelling and hitting each other. This was shown
on evening news.
The matter
did not end there. Television news on 10.4.19 showed Mahinda Rajapaksa turning
up at Matara railway station. He bought a ticket, got on the Matara- Beliatta
train and sat down at a window seat. The Matara railway platform was bursting
with his supporters and as the train left Matara station, television cameras
showed Rajapaksa with his hand extended out of the window, greeting supporters and
patting children’s heads. Another throng of excited supporters were waiting at
the next station, Kekunadura. This would
have been repeated at the three remaining stations, Bambarenda, Wevurukannala
and Beliatta too. Mahinda Rajapaksa supporters, it appears, feel strongly about
Mahinda Rajapaksa. (Continued)
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