More white elephants for whose benefit?

A foundation stone laying ceremony to construct an International Conference Hall in Galle was reported in the papers last week. How many international conferences are held in Sri Lanka for a year? Hardly any. All these years we have been using the BMICH. What’s wrong with it now?

We have the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Conference Centre in Hambantota and it is closed, because we have no international conferences. During the last election and after that everyone was talking about the “no ship” harbour”, “no flights” airport” and “no conference” international conference centre in Hambantota”. We have built those white elephants after borrowing and dumping valuable foreign exchange. The cost of maintaining these places is far more than the income they produce, but the people who are responsible for such foolish decisions call them development work. What is development if no employment is created and no income is generated? The only income are the commissions they received, with no benefits to the country.

Now why is the present government thinking of building another white elephant in Galle? If the members of Parliament for Galle district think that they can proudly tell the voters in their district that they have got this conference centre for their district, please go ahead and do these nonsensical ventures using your own money, not the tax payers’ money.

The Minister of Education is hellbent on giving tabs to Advanced Level students and teachers. When this was questioned in the Cabinet meeting he has said that it is an election promise. Did not the UNP candidates tell the villagers that the dilapidated school buildings would be repaired; that sufficient desks and chairs will be given to the village schools etc? Are not those election promises too? They are. It is a matter of allocating smaller amounts for this type of small but important projects. When the required fund is small, there is no room for big commissions. They want to fulfil the promises involving millions if not billions, but not small projects that require no millions.

Mr. Minister, please provide basic needs to the poor village children to get a basic education. How can the “Langama pasala be hondama pasala” when some of those schools have many shortcomings. You cannot fool the people with slogans.

You are due to open some school buildings in the near future and all of them are in your electorate. There is nothing wrong with this, but please keep in mind that Kuliyapitiya is only a part of Sri Lanka and you are the Minister in charge of Education for the whole country. H. de Silva Via email