{"id":150860,"date":"2025-07-21T16:45:01","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T23:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=150860"},"modified":"2025-07-21T16:45:01","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T23:45:01","slug":"wimalasurendra-planned-to-electrify-lankas-trains-cities-in-1918-the-english-derailed-his-vision-they-still-do-in-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2025\/07\/21\/wimalasurendra-planned-to-electrify-lankas-trains-cities-in-1918-the-english-derailed-his-vision-they-still-do-in-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Wimalasurendra Planned to Electrify Lanka\u2019s Trains & Cities in 1918: The English Derailed His Vision \u2013 They Still Do in\u00a02025\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

e-Con e-News<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

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blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Before you study the economics, study the economists!<\/em>\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

e-Con e-News 13-19 July 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ee<\/em><\/strong>\u2019s poster this week portrays the Western Province Governor (& founder of Expolanka<\/strong>, importer of Japanese goods) Hanif Yusoof<\/strong>, Tea Exporters Association<\/strong> Chairman Huzefa Akbarally<\/strong>, and Brandix<\/strong> CEO Ashroff Omar<\/strong>, all appearing hawkish-eyed & wide awake, glaring & peering, at a meeting with President AK Dissanayake on 12 July at the Presidential Secretariat. The meeting, including other named & unnamed merchants & government officials, was to formulate a response to an ever-changing US tariff policy<\/strong>. Could the poster be titled Wary, Warier & Wariest<\/em>?<\/strong> Sceptical, more Sceptical & Most Sceptical<\/em>\u2019? Is this tariff business really about percentages & economics alone?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Brandix<\/strong> symbolizes the fraud called the \u2018Apparel Industry\u2019 aka \u2018Garment Industry\u2019, which constitutes 40% of Sri Lanka\u2019s merchandise exports, \u2018the backbone of Sri Lanka\u2019s export sector\u2019. Yet this boneless backbone does not make a pin, needle, thread, fabric, machine, etc. All these inputs are imported<\/strong>, with IPR payments for their usage going to England, EU, USA & Japan. Does the US include these in the computations of their intelligent algorithms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     The tea trade<\/strong> is yet another fraud, with their workers still plucking, almost 200 years later; despite claims, every now & again, to mechanization (see ee Random Notes<\/em><\/strong>). And is Expolanka (\u2018with interests in logistics, leisure, food & technology businesses\u2019) an importer of foreign machines<\/strong> that are not allowed to be made here?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Neither the photographer nor the writer of the story accompanying the photo, is named in this Financial Times <\/em>factoid. This very same article was reproduced faithfully in all the English media, minus the photo. So, what is the image really trying to convey and to whom? The absence of names makes us assume this \u2019press release\u2019 may be from the amply-staffed President\u2019s Media Division (PMD), yet another undeclared infocommercial. The photo too may therefore be a \u2018release\u2019 from the PMD, taken by one of their photographers, and selected by their PR agents, to frame and inspire certain optics. For whom?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

     The Financial Times<\/em> caters to the financial \u2018bookmaking\u2019 & bookkeeping class, and like the rest of the Colombo oligarchy & wannabes, yearns to be one day taken over and overwhelmed by their North Atlantic counterpart, the ostensibly now Japanese Nikkei-owned Financial Times<\/em> of London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     The President has been accused of putting on \u2018media shows\u2019 and has apparently still not named a premier deal maker to take on Trump\u2019s algorithmic intelligence & his letter writers. \u2018Alarmingly<\/strong>, the international trade negotiator position has remained vacant since November 2024\u2019, trembles the Political Editor, Sunday Times<\/em>, quoting the SJB\u2019s and CTC\u2019s economic hitman Harsha de Silva, \u2018We desperately need a robust national export strategy to guide us<\/em><\/strong>\u2019(see ee <\/em><\/strong>Economists<\/strong><\/em>). Really? Is this<\/em> the desperate need?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     The media is always drowned in stories about how exports \u2013 to countries that seek to maintain our colonial, mechanically underdeveloped, status \u2013 are absolutely indispensable<\/em><\/strong>. There is never mention of how our very own home market<\/strong> has been captured by US & English & EU & Japanese multinational corporations (MNCs<\/strong>). A major media meme is that the government is not doing enough to aid these exporters, and the media is full of these merchants demanding this & that. Meanwhile, workers \u2018demands\u2019 usually deemed a priori unreasonable<\/em>,<\/strong> are only caricatured & amplified when they step out onto the streets and are met with teargas. The media is a \u2018demonstration\u2019 of capitalist demands, every second, every day. So what does this photo convey? That the President is listening earnestly to these largely \u2019Indian\u2019 exporters, who oppose Sri Lanka\u2019s relations with BRICs, or even China? And these wide-eyed & brows-furrowed \u2018exporters\u2019? Representative of their merchant tribe? Are they not happy but troubled? Yet, are they troubled really? Where exactly have they invested their billions? Or where do they park their billions? In the USA & England\u2019s tax hideouts, in Delaware and Jersey, etc., like the tea plantation scam\u2019s new owners (see ee Random Notes<\/em><\/strong>)? Can KPMG and Ernst & Young (E&Y) not tell us? Does this explain the Muslim and Christian silence on the slaughters in West Asia?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is almost holy scripture<\/strong> in the capitalist media to claim that the 1970-77 ULF coalition government, under Sirimavo Bandaranaike<\/strong>, was an economic failure. Yet, the industries it set up staunched further haemorrhaging of the economy midst yet another international economic crisis, which saw fuel (OPEC) & food prices rocket. They prevented even greater losses. Yet any successes have also been ignored by the media, for it is a strategy by the merchant class to act the scorned-eminently-suitable suitor ever ready to rescue the virgin country, yet thwarted? This is epitomized in the chastisement given by the Chamber of Commerce\u2019s Muni Kundanmal<\/strong> (who with other Sindhi traders like the Hirdaramanis<\/strong> actually profited from import-substitution policies in the 1970s). Kundanmal, at a Chamber of Commerce meeting in the early 1970s, told a businessman (who had spoken out that in fact business was doing fine under the United Front): \u2018I say, men, don\u2019t say that, it will only encourage them!\u2019 Yet when a leading Borah businessman was questioned about his merchant predilections in the 1970s, he simply declared, \u2018We go wherever the honey is.\u2019 There has and always will be lots of honey. The question is, what they do with the honey & the bees. Export them all?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     The Chamber of Commerce remains an imperialist front for the US & English multinational corporations & banks controlling Sri Lanka\u2019s economy, even as they are careful to manicure their appearances & demands in the media. Last week, the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce<\/strong>, National Chamber of Commerce<\/strong>, Joint Apparel Association Forum<\/strong> & Federation of Renewable Energy Developers<\/strong>, all came to the defence of the US World Bank<\/strong>, Japan\u2019s International Cooperation Agency (JICA<\/strong>), and Asian Development Bank (ADB)<\/strong>, all of whom criticized the proposed Electricity Act, and got a \u2018lashing\u2019 by the Minister of Energy. Is it all performance?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     The story of energy & electricity<\/strong> in this country is one long history of pure sabotage, as the story of DJ Wimalasurendra<\/strong>, another candidate who, like our SBD de Silva, truly qualifies for the title of founder of industrialization in Sri Lanka<\/strong>. So, here (ee Focus<\/em><\/strong>) is a story of his tireless efforts and how he was thwarted\u2026 just as every government that tried to truly represent the interests of the people of this country, have been defied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week also saw \u2018ex-President\u2019 Ranil Wickremasinghe<\/strong> (always quotable because his relatives largely own the media<\/strong>) criticize the NPP government for not<\/em><\/strong> pointing out that the US government is sabotaging the ability of Sri Lanka to pay back its \u2018debts\u2019 as configured by the USA\u2019s IMF itself. The \u2018ex-President\u2019 we recall has long been named as being part of the ploy to \u2018invite\u2019 the US military\u2019s boots to trod on the country. His partner in crime US envoy (actually en\u2019voyeur<\/em>\u2019! & ex-Korean comfort woman) Julie Chung, whose successors keep being named, is yet to be replaced, despite the supposed \u2018dramatic\u2019 changes in US government policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Julie Chang is the guiding spirit behind the Aragalaya;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

she is really a remarkable woman, an ambassador,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the likes of whom we have never witnessed before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She not only gives garden parties, but also advises both<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gotabaya Rajapakse<\/strong> & the<\/strong> Aragalaya<\/strong> protesters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She patronizes<\/em><\/strong> the JVP<\/strong>. She gives hope & succour to<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the Red Sahodarayas in their pursuit of the armed struggle,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

knowing too well that it would provide an opportunity<\/p>\n\n\n\n

for Ranil Wickremasinghe to accede to the 4th<\/sup> request<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

of the CIA chief to bring in his troops to the country<\/strong>\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Gunadasa Amarasekera (see ee<\/em><\/strong> 17 August 2019)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This ee<\/em><\/strong> also continues our look at the charity aka political machine in New York (see ee Focus<\/em><\/strong>, Tammany Hall). It shows how the rulers of the USA\u2019s largest metropolis were full supporters of slavery in the US south, as well as how US-style politics gives rise to the demagoguery, many times camouflaged, but on full display today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May 24<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A piss-drunk gentleman climbs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

into the 3wheeler<\/p>\n\n\n\n

with bread, fish & a bag of sweets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I ask, \u2018Where to, Sir?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018To crown myself king. Y\u2019all are Indian<\/p>\n\n\n\n

bootlickers, oi. Y\u2019all suck us dry,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

make the Bajaj company rich.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t be angry, malli.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m a little drunk. I can\u2019t look<\/p>\n\n\n\n

at my little ones & woman<\/p>\n\n\n\n

without taking a shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Must be because I love them too much.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What an odd boozer! His long beard<\/p>\n\n\n\n

is greying, just like his long-shot dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After paying me, he leaves<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a sweet for the tip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From: Life on 3Wheels<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 EMU Palitha Edirisooriya<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(translation, Samodh Porawagamage)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The media is awash about the NPP government catching rogues, yet it is hunger that moves people. What matters<\/strong>, according to the view from the kitchen and voter, we are told, is the price of goods<\/strong>, the price of rice & coconuts, salt & sugar & flour. Very few intend to activate local production.  Some say this is a government of 3wheeler drivers<\/em><\/strong>, but the 3wheeler drivers\u2019 associations (fronts for finance companies) that are given publicity in the media, never highlight the need for manufacturing 3wheelers & their parts here<\/strong>. They don\u2019t believe we are skilled enough to make the parts with precision. Yet, over 100 years ago DJ Wimalasurendra<\/strong>, however, was clear & wide-eyed about what<\/em><\/strong> needed to be done<\/em><\/strong>. What he wasn\u2019t aware of, perhaps, is what he was truly up against.  Truths that awaited an SBD de Silva to fully delineate. We therefore begin to serialize SBD de Silva\u2019s classic The Political Economy of Underdevelopment<\/em> beginning with his Preface, which speaks of why he wrote the book, and describes the need for a socially committed scholarship midst the big-business-ization of the social sciences (see ee Random Notes<\/em><\/strong>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This ee Focus<\/em><\/strong> looks at how, in 1918, the \u2018District Engineer\u2019 from Galle, DJ Wimalasurendra<\/strong> described with mathematical precision, to the \u2018Engineering Association of Ceylon\u2019, his plan to harness Sri Lanka\u2019s \u2018greatest asset\u2019 the Mahaweli<\/strong> Ganga, to electrify trains, cities & industrial centres<\/strong> in Ceylon. In 1918, the world was still shaking over the opening European bloodbaths of the 20th<\/sup> century, and the resulting revolution for a Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)<\/strong>. So, it is intriguing that Wimalasurendra\u2019s plan involved the production of our own munitions, chemicals & fertilizers, and the processing of the raw materials we then exported. The English chairman at the meeting called his speech \u2018a most interesting, instructive & suggestive paper<\/em><\/strong>.\u2019 Wimalasurendra\u2019s vision was even framed within loyalty to the colonial system, asking England to learn from their experience of a Ceylon being cut off from Europe, as had just happened during their World War I.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     His visionary plan to electrify trains sought to use hydroelectric power for speed<\/strong>, so as to minimize wear & tear (rail-less traction) and reduce the costs of labor \u2013 this was almost 50 years before the world\u2019s first electric high-speed bullet train in Japan! Wimalasurendra also wished to reduce dependence on expensive imported coal & fuel & steel. His vision for transport, and to light up the towns & industrial centres, involved the processing at home of the national resources we still export, using storage batteries & dynamos to transfer current from down trains to up trains! We wonder if Wimalasurendra knew what was going to hit him next\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     The English colonial government sabotaged his plans, including his Laxapana<\/strong> (\u2018100,000 Lights\u2019) hydroelectric scheme, and prevented its immediate fruition. It would take Wimalasurenda another 15 years before he could publicly blame the delay \u2018on the business & economic interests of the English imperialist project<\/strong>\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018In a series of speeches made at the State Council,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

especially during 1933-34, Wimalasurendra identified<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the broad alliance that worked against the Hydroelectric<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scheme. He used different names at times to identify this<\/p>\n\n\n\n

alliance: \u2018Big Business\u2019, \u2018Oil & Coal Combine\u2019, \u2018Almighty<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oil Interests\u2019, \u2018Big Business & Alien Combines\u2019, \u2018Imperialistic<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Element\u2019, \u2018Big Business Element<\/em><\/strong>\u2019, \u2018Big Business Party\u2019\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 BD Witharana, Negotiating Power & Constructing<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

the Nation: Engineering in SL <\/em>(see ee<\/em><\/strong> 1 Aug 2020)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The principal agents sabotaging Wimalasurendra\u2019s plans included such colonial politicians as the Minister of Communications & Works (& gem merchant) knighted \u2018Sir\u2019 Muhammed Macan Markar, English colonial officials (related to English engineering firms), as well as the coal, oil & steel importing Boustead Bros<\/strong>, Shell Oil<\/strong>, and Whitehall Securities Corporation<\/strong> (now Pearson plc, the major textbook publisher & exam conductor<\/strong>, which once owned London\u2019s Financial Times<\/em> & their sermonizing The Economist<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     A limited version of Laxapana<\/strong> would be launched only after \u2018dominion\u2019 independence, in 1950<\/strong>, and only completed in 1969 (over 50 years after his speech<\/strong>). The 1977 accelerated Mahaweli Project, which promised to export electricity to India, failed to transform our agrarian question in any way, and instead turned out to be a boondoggle for English & European engineering behemoths such as Balfour Beatty<\/strong> plc, who then helped get our cricketers \u2018test status\u2019, as well as promote local oligarchs who serviced their interests. We are now being subjected to the threat of being hooked into India\u2019s grid and dependent on their whims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Every attempt to form a national government that would inspire a modern industrial renaissance has been thwarted by the merchant & moneylender cabal who underdevelop the country. Midst news that a KPMG accountant deleted fuel distribution data<\/strong>, this ee<\/em><\/strong> (Random Notes<\/em><\/strong>) also reproduces an interesting letter describing why the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) was formed<\/strong>, though how the CPC was sabotaged still awaits exposure. ee Focus<\/em><\/strong> also reproduces a revealing Daily Mirror<\/em> editorial on the seeming \u2018turnaround\u2019 & recantation by the \u2018Marxist\u2019 JVP. What the Daily Mirror<\/em> happily avoids, is to declare, \u2018What is to be done?<\/em><\/strong>\u2019 Despite their lamentations and groaning & gnashing of verbiated teeth, do this, do that,<\/em> they dare not even broach the vital verbs of local modern industrial production here\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

_________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contents:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Wimalasurendra Planned to Electrify Lanka\u2019s Trains & Cities in 1918: The English Derailed His Vision \u2013 They Still Do in 2025\u2026<\/a><\/blockquote>