Ers in bid to change US policy
Hina's President coming next onth with billions more in d before presidential election Rs. 66.5 billion allocated for UPFAcontrolled DCCs, while Govt. members get bigger budgetary allocations
ers who have been appointed.
"So far no documents have been exchanged -- and official communications have not taken place between the Presidential Commission and the Advisory Council members.
"I have been told that there will be three more members from India, Pakistan and Japan. But it is the Presidential Secretariat which will invite them. The Commission is continuing with its work. We have returned after the public sessions in Mannar and are now going through the information collected. We have not decided on the next sittings so far", he said.
Those named so far, besides de Silva are Sir Geoffrey Nice and Professor David Crane. Awaiting a Gazette notification is the nomination of Avdash Kaushal, an NGO head in India. On November 26, 2006 President Rajapaksa visited Kaushal's Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra (RLEK). There, he laid the foundation stone for the Indo-Sri Lanka Human Rights Centre for South Asian countries. The Government of India has distanced itself from this appointment.
Besides trouble shooting, for President Mahinda Rajapaksa there is a host of other priority areas in his agenda. He told ministers at their weekly meeting on Thursday that two historic visits would take place next month and that the Government should gain the maximum mileage out of them. One is the official visit by China's President Xi Jinping. Though the dates are yet to be finalised, it is most likely on September 7 and 8. This is the first time that a Chinese president is visiting Sri Lanka. It is to be followed by the visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, possibly on September 16 and 17. Immediately thereafter, President Rajapaksa plans to leave for New York to attend the UN General Assembly's 69th sessions which begin on September 20.
Preparatory work for President Xi's visit has already got under way. An advance team of two senior Chinese officials was in Sri Lanka. During talks with leaders of the UPFA and its partners, the duo accompanied by an official of the Chinese Embassy, expressed great satisfaction with President Rajapaksa and the policies followed by his Government. It came as China showered more financial assistance for mega projects in Sri Lanka. Last Thursday ministers gave approval to assistance totalling US$ 650 million (over Rs. 84.5 billion) for water projects in different towns.
The Government has also accepted another unsolicited proposal by a Branch of the Export-Import Bank of Hunan Province, to provide US$ 90 million (over Rs. 11.7 billion) for widening and improvement of 64.31 kilometres of roads in Central and Uva Provinces. It will also cover reconstruction of 13 bridges. The roads are: Kandy-Kirimatiya Road (7.64 kilometres), Ampitiya - Gurudeniya Road (2.25 kilometres), Nuwara Eliya-Ragala-Udapussellawa Road (27 kilometres), Welimada-Kirklees Road (17.83 kilometres) and Avissawella-Hatton-Nuwara Eliya Road (9.59 kilometres). Ministers have decided to give approval to the project proposal submitted by Hunan Construction Engineering Group Corporation, China with financing from the Hunan Branch of the Export-Import Bank.
UPFA sources say that more aid packages are expected to be announced during President Xi's visit. Due to follow are aid programmes from the Government of Japan when Premier Abe is in Sri Lanka. It is in this backdrop that preparations for the budget are taking shape. It is expected to be presented in Parliament in the second or third week of November. President Rajapaksa has told his ministers that "it is essential to prepare the Budget 2015 within the Medium Term Budgetary Framework 2015 -2017 giving priority to increase access to basic infrastructure facilities such as health, education, roads and safe drinking water in districts which are below the national average in social development, basic infrastructure facilities and economic indices."
Economic targets set for 2015 as a percentage of GDP are Public Investment (6), Budget Deficit (4.4), Total Public Debt (7.1), Economic Growth Rate 8.2 and Inflation (5.5). The expected total Government revenue and expenditure have both been estimated at Rs. 3,000 billion.
The budget assumes even greater significance in view of the impending presidential election. The guessing games continue in the dovecotes of power whether it would be held in January or in March next year. However, the fact that there would be polls is a certainty and many arrangements towards it are under way. One is the launch of a massive publicity campaign, assigned this time to an advertising firm, with which the younger son of a VIP is closely associated.
The Divisional Co-ordinating Committees (DCCs), 225 of them in all countrywide, will each receive a staggering Rs. 300 million (i.e Rs. 67.5 billion in total) for infrastructure development work. This will include road construction, repairs, new bridges and other development activity. The funds for the purpose is now being channelled through the Ministry of Economic Development. The money is being allotted on the condition that all work should be completed by December this year. The Divisional Coordinating Committees include UPFA parliamentarians. Where they are not present, local authority stalwarts, who are often organisers in the area, take their role. The decentralised budget for MPs which stands at Rs. 5 million is to be raised to Rs. 30 million for UPFA parliamentarians only.
Development work in the City of Colombo has also gained momentum. This week, Dudley Sirisena, brother of Minister Maithripala Sirisena, General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the majority partner in the UPFA, won approval for a hotel project at Madinagoda in Rajagiriya. His Green Hills Hotels (Pvt) Ltd. has incorporated a new company, Araliya Grand Colombo Hotel (Private) Limited to carry out the mixed development project. Green Hills Hotels (Pvt.) Ltd. has its registered office at No: 796 Athulampitiya, Polonnaruwa. The lease comes on a recommendation by President Rajapaksa who is also Minister of Defence and Urban Development. Green Hills Hotels already has hotel properties in Polonnaruwa and Nuwara Eliya.
An extent of ten acres, one rood and 29.44 perches, acquired and vested under the Urban Development Authority (UDA), is to be given to the new company on a 99 year lease. The Government Valuer has valued the lease premium at Rs. 270 million. Ninety per cent of the land value is to be paid in one lump sum before the execution of the lease agreement. In addition to the lease premium, an annual "nominal" ground rental of Rs 10,000 per acre or part thereof which is reviewable in every five years will be charged during the period of the lease.
Dudley Sirisena is one of the leading rice millers in the Polonnaruwa District parts of which are among the areas hit by drought. The crisis situation has caused concern for the Government. The Cooperative Wholesale Establishment has been asked to import 5,000 metric tonnes of rice at intervals to prevent shortages. Ministers say this is to ensure price stabilisation and food security. The Food Commissioner's Department has been directed to build a two-month buffer stock to be released to the market in December and January next year.
Since Sri Jayawardenapura-Kotte area has been declared as the Administrative Capital of Sri Lanka, the UDA has prepared a development plan promoting administrative activities within Rajagiriya, Battaramulla and Malabe area. The UDA has acquired larger acreage of developable lands and low lying lands to fulfil the land requirements for the Government institutions as well as the private sector for development and to maintain the required extent of low lying lands for water retention. The land at Madinagoda abutting the Kolonnawa Ela had earlier been acquired and vested in the UDA. President Rajapaksa has noted that a part of this land remained as high land where there were eight families while a major portion was "not readily available for development."
Despite most development activity, at least one major partner of the UPFA, the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) is clearly unhappy. "We cannot continue like this," remarked it's General Secretary Champika Ranawaka. He said told the Sunday Times that his party would extend its awareness campaign to educate the people of the burning issues and the need for immediate action in several spheres including economy and governance. "There is an urgent need for a political re-structuring programme. Only a few people are making decisions now," he said. He added that the Maha Sangha was not consulted. "We will talk to all political parties about the situation. There is an urgent need for environment sustainability, social justice and economic growth," he added.
Though still not content, another UPFA partner, the National Freedom Front (NFF) appears to have at least temporarily resolved issues. The move came after President Rajapaksa directed that the NFF be brought on board for the UPFA campaign for the Uva Provincial Council elections. Sections of the UPFA had believed that the NFF was bluffing when it said it was fielding its own candidates. However, after its nomination list was handed over for the Moneragala District, things took a different turn.
Arriving at the Paget Road official residence of Minister Weerawansa was his ministerial colleague Dullas Allahapperuma. Joining in later was Lasantha Alagiyawanna, Deputy Minister of Construction, Engineering Services, Housing and Common Amenities. A discussion ensued on the "12 point reform package" put forward by the NFF. After a lengthy discussion, the duo adjourned and returned again at near midnight. They proposed some changes to the package and a discussion ensued. "We were agreeable to the changes they suggested. I consulted our party leadership and they endorsed them the next day," Weerawansa told the Sunday Times. He said with the approval of President Rajapaksa, it was later announced during a news conference at 'Temple Trees'.
For the main opposition United National Party (UNP), the focus this week was an announcement by the party's Political Affairs Director Mangala Samaraweera. He told a news conference that he plans to testify before the OHCHR international investigation into alleged war crimes. The strategy appears to be to bare before investigators alleged "LTTE war crimes" and thus expose the role of Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP, the man singularly responsible for the guerrillas achieving military sophistication at every phase of the separatist war. He procured most of the weapons for the LTTE. Though he is a most wanted man for the murder of then Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, Pathmanathan is a free man in Sri Lanka and heads an NGO in Kilinochchi.
The other leading opposition party in the south, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), will decide whether or not to contest the upcoming presidential election only after the Uva PC polls are over, its leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said yesterday. "We will assess the outcome in Uva and the prevailing political situation before taking a decision," he told the Sunday Times.
If it is carnival time for some PR agencies in the United States, in Sri Lanka there are still many odds President Rajapaksa would have to overcome. With funds flowing for development and other activity, the ongoing drought notwithstanding, there will be a flood of money that could literally drown the opposition.