Making Sri Lanka The Miracle Of Asia

Mr. Champika Ranawaka, the ministerial authority for the Megapolis, has announced that the work on the Colombo Port City is to be resumed soon after renegotiating the contract with the Chinese authorities. The project has been halted by the present government due to the irregularities found in the contract.

The government will not encounter any serious problem in rectifying the illegality of the contract and any irregularity can even be regularized if necessary by enacting new laws in the parliament.

What is to be pointed here is the unresolved and the most crucial matter of the entire Colombo Poet City project is the prevention of threats to the environment. It is to this that there is a lack of concern. If the authorities decide to go ahead with the project, the marine resources and the fish breeding grounds and corals will be seriously affected, due to the heavy extraction amounting to 100 million tons of sand from the sea. This will cause depletion of rich fishing grounds resulting in livelihood problems to thousands of fishermen living in the western coast.

It also need to be pointed out that around 16 million metric tons of granite has to be found from the interior of the country to reclaim the sea to construct the Colombo Port City. What would be the impact of such human activity on the water resources, flora and fauna and other various species living in the rock hill environment.

We can appreciate the recent statement that President Maithri made at the the 9th Annual Summit of the Institute of Environmental Professionals of Sri Lanka (IEPSL), held today (Oct. 20) at Waters Edge Hotel, Battaramulla, at which he assured that “the government would take legal actions against those who destroy the environment, irrespective of their status”.

We now await to see how he would prevent the destruction of environment if he says yes to the Colombo Port City or any other projects of that nature in their development strategy in the implementation of the proposed “megapolices”.

To make Sri Lanka, the Miracle of Asia, has been the dream of the members of Rajapaksa family, which they unfortunately failed to realize due to an error made in their calculation of their own future destiny.

Now it is the turn for Sirisena and Wickremesinghe administration to perform the same miracle. Their ambitious plan is to build “megapolises” in the Western and Eastern provinces, which the Rajapaksa administration in their times named them as Metro Regions. The purpose of both was to attract foreign investors to develop our country.

My question for Sirisena and Wickremesignhe administration is whether such mega projects will satisfy the needs of the farmers and fishermen and workers who comprise the 75% of the population. Has the new administration identified any other solution to the problems of the peasantry and small fishermen? It is my view “megapolises” are not the answers. What is not clear is on what basis has Colombo Port City been classified as a priority project?

Two Immoral Acts of Sirisena-Ranil Government.

The artificial situation now created by the President and the Prime Minister has led to an unsavory political climate in the country. When we look back on the promises made during the election campaign nobody expected the creation of a mega cabinet or the appointment of the rejected ones as Ministers and parliamentarians under “Yahapalanya”. Surely this is nothing else but cheating the gullible masses.    

The appointment of a jumbo cabinet going against the 19^th amendment of the constitution and the appointment of the rejected members as ministers and deputy ministers of the new government is an act contrary to the principles of “Yahapalanaya” and Democratic governance. This is not real or genuine politics but manipulative politics, which they are compelled to adopt in their self interests.  

If the major political parties failed to have gained sufficient number of seats to form a stable government, shouldn’t they have gone for re-election, and ask the people for a clearer mandate rather than creating a mockery of democracy.

In my view, securing the positions of Sirisena and Ranil duo and prevention of a comeback of another evil force is the only reason for making this arrangement of convenience.

Perhaps my view can be very personal and inaccurate. Yet people must be given the reasons for adopting such a strategy against their wish and election promises. Moreover, the spirit of good governance demands transparency in decision making.

If the elected members are going against the election promises and the aspirations of the people, they are undermining the authority given to them by the people to govern the country. They may desire to rule the country till 2020 but will do so without moral authority.

People should immediately send a message to the government expressing their displeasure about the way things are moving. Some voices have been raised. We should appreciate Ven Sobitha thero and the leadership of “Puravesi Balaya” who have already spoken. Let there be hundred or thousand more voices be raised but in one voice. 

President however has already indicated that inquiries against those who have done wrong will go on and the members of the parliament have to live up to the demands of a new political culture and so on. But in this political climate what guarantee do we have that promises will come true. Similarly can the politicians be trusted?

We have witnessed the behavior of some of these defeated members who have been offered   ministerial posts by the President. There is no evidence of whatsoever to show that since their new appointments a sudden conversion has taken place within them and they will a live a more noble life from now on. 

The current events are an indication that the system of party politics alone is not enough to secure people’s aspirations. The time has now come for the citizens to act more responsibly. People need to be more organized and develop an effective mechanism to participate in governance rather than assigning all authority to the elected members. 

Fr. Sarath Iddamalgoda