Ceylon Today Editorial

DEFINING WATERSHED IN PRESIDENT’S LIFE

 01 September 2016

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP)'s 65th Convention has as never before drawn the attention of not only local politicians, think tanks and business leaders but of the global diplomatic corps as well if only because President Maithripala Sirisena is expected to spell out the SLFP's plan to seek the electorate's majority vote for a totally SLFP Government .

That could mean, 4 September in Kurunegala could also see the President making a statement on what the form and substance of the SLFP will be even in the two-party government that is obtaining right now.

The President has in a manner of speaking made a mark for himself with the electorate by consistently shooting down proposals in and out of the budget which have the slightest hint of burdening the masses with extra expenses on essentials. He has shown a rare ability to stamp out any vestige of overly eccentric and MR-centric rebellion against mainline SLFP decisions and its performances in government.

He has shown no aversion to calling a spade a spade even if it has meant squashing what his own Premier, the UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesignhe's attempts, through the United National Party (UNP) Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake, to slip in hikes in CoL that could inordinately affect the lives of the common man. He has thus forced the UNP arm of the government to bring in price controls on 18 most-used food items and thus made himself more popular with the voters. He has steered Sri Lanka away from being a hated pariah on the global stage to being a much sought after trading and investments partner, especially by big investors from the West whose exports are streamlined for Western big time markets. His handling of the touch subject of human rights abuses to the extent of possibly saving MR and others from being dragged before the ICJ is no small argument in his favour. That's an argument that can cause a huge flow of votes in his favour at the hustings when general and presidential elections come around.

He has seen to it that his even-handed policies have meshed into any negotiations the Prime Minister and his hand-picked ministers in development ministries with countries both east and west and north and south.

He has, as everyone now knows, steered Sri Lanka into a clearly Pro-US/West foreign policy realm to the extent of a clearly defined policy that has as its end focus the promotion of more big time export markets in the West as well as steering a safe and sound policy with China and other potential belligerents in the West whose investments and export markets, though not half as important, are still essential as hedges are in the stock market.

He has fast established the fact that SLFP renegades can't expect him to be anything less than a handful, as belligerent as himself, when the need arises and as a man who is capable of unleashing the full power of the law, legitimately at that, to counter any threat to his security in power.

So, as September approaches, the man who will take centre stage on the SLFP podium in Kurunegala will be doing so from a comparative position of strength, a strength he did not quite muster when he was elected President and opted to tie with to form an Unity Government with the hated UNP regime and the more hated UNP Leader, whose name has been anathema to the Rajapaksa-led breakaway faction of the SLFP that is now said be gearing to form a new party to mount a direct attack on Sirisena.

If Rajapaksa's following has been steadfast, though for the wrong reason from a moral and political standpoint, Sirisena's backing had gained immense strength from a growing support base from among those considered moral by comparison and more imbued with integrity.

September 4 will somehow, we feel, prove to be a defining juncture at the political crossroads of the President's career. And that will redefine the course that the country will take as unfolding political events over the next four years will unveil.

Daily News Editorial

Roads to development

 

01 September 2016

Rajagiriya, the main city of the Sri Jayawardhanapura administrative capital, is well known for its traffic congestion at virtually any time of the day. With arterial roads radiating from Rajagiriya to Nawala, Borella, Battaramulla, Pita Kotte and Gothatuwa, it is a traffic nightmare for motorists as well as Police. Apart from a newly constructed wider bridge over the Diyawanna Oya, Police have been experimenting on and off with various measures such as opening a lane on the other side depending on the time of day, one-way schemes and turning the traffic lights off and controlling traffic manually. None of these offered a way out of the gridlock, which costs time, energy and money for motorists, bus passengers and even pedestrians.

Although the previous Government vowed to build a flyover at Rajagiriya to ease traffic congestion under the infamous “200 bridges and flyovers programme”, only a few were actually built around seven years ago, including those at Nugegoda and Dehiwala. The proposed flyovers at Rajagiriya and Havelock Town fell by the wayside. In hindsight, the sheer amount of traffic at Rajagiriya would have been a massive strain on the type of steel flyover constructed at Dehiwala and Nugegoda. In fact, heavy vehicles are not allowed on the Dehiwala flyover which is more suited for lighter traffic.

Rajagiriya had to endure traffic woes for some more years, but now it is getting a much better deal – a multi-lane, concrete flyover costing Rs.4.3 billion designed to drastically reduce traffic congestion and cut travel times at least by half. Work on the massive project started yesterday. Granted, there will be traffic chaos for the next 16 months until construction of one flyover bridge is completed, but it is well worth the wait.

Built with Spanish aid and expertise and fully overseen by the Road Development Authority (RDA), the 533 metre long flyover will consist of two parallel bridges with two lanes on each bridge. It will be constructed in two phases from Battaramulla to Borella along the new Parliament Road. According to the RDA, the first phase of the flyover is to be completed by November 2017. Under the second phase another two lane flyover will be constructed in parallel to the first flyover. It will be completed by December 2018. Most motorists would have ideally wished for an extension all the way to the Airport Expressway entrance at Peliyagoda, but this is a good start that can point the way to bigger things.

In the meantime, the RDA has advised motorists to avoid the Welikada Junction in Rajagiriya if possible and use alternative routes as there will be heavy traffic congestion in this area due to the construction. For example, motorists travelling to Nawala can take the Borella-Narahenpita-Nawala road. While building and widening roads is essential to control traffic, it is even more prudent to build better public transport links that could take some cars off the road. Indeed, the Western Province Megapolis Plan calls for such Light Rail Transit (LRT) projects on highly congested traffic corridors such as Malabe-Colombo.

The Rajagiriya flyover is not the only such project currently underway. Two more flyovers are being constructed in Ganemulla and Polgahawela, also with Spanish assistance, to reduce congestion mainly caused by the railway crossings. The two projects, estimated to cost Rs 4 billion, are expected to be completed this year.

The Government is also going ahead with the Central Expressway from Colombo to Kandy, which is due to be extended to Dambulla. Work is already underway. A new 74 Km expressway called Ruwanpura Expressway is to be built from the Kahathuduwa Interchange of the Southern Expressway to Pelmadulla, to provide faster (just 45 minutes) access to Ratnapura. The Southern Expressway itself is being extended to Hambantota in line with the Government’s plans to make the region a shipping and aviation hub. The Outer Circular Highway too is being extended. Apart from expressways, the Government is going ahead with other major infrastructure projects such as the Colombo International Financial City.

All these projects negate the allegations spread by the Joint Opposition and certain other politicians that the National Unity Government had neglected infrastructure and other forms of development such as power projects. This is far from the truth – in the initial stages, the Government had to probe the expressway and other deals signed by the previous Government for any financial irregularities and also ensure that there is no room for corruption in any future project. It was found that many road projects initiated by the former Government had a “corruption element” sometimes reflected through cost overruns.

There should also be a bigger focus on rural development. There is nothing wrong with building a jogging track in an urban area, but almost every TV news bulletin has a story about a remote village which lacks even a basic road. These lacunae in development must be identified and corrective action taken so that the fruits of development can be shared equally among all Sri Lankans.

The Island Editorial

Cometh the UN chief

 

01 September 2016

 

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has arrived in Colombo. The last several months have seen the arrival of many foreign dignitaries for various purposes. It looks as if western diplomats and political leaders were falling over themselves to rush here. One must be wondering how on earth a speck of a country in the Indian Ocean receives so much of international attention.

Besides, three US Navy vessels have made port calls in Colombo so far this year. How many more American vessels are scheduled to do so is anybody’s guess. Speculation is rife in political circles that some western forces are scouting out the lie of Trincomalee, which the British reluctantly left more than half a century ago.

Minister of Fisheries Mahinda Amaraweera, a one-time Rajapaksa worshipper, has claimed to know what actually caused his erstwhile boss to call a snap presidential election and commit political hara-kiri in the process. Echoing the views of his current boss, President Maithripala Sirisena, Amaraweera has sought to debunk the widely held belief that President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s downfall was caused by the palace seer’s wrong predictions.

Amaraweera says Rajapaksa was left with no alternative but to seek a third term prematurely because the latter was perturbed by an economic crisis on the horizon and being cornered on diplomatic and human rights fronts, especially in Geneva. Addressing a media conference in Hambantota on Monday, Minister Amaraweera said the international community had softened its stand on Sri Lanka after the fall of the Rajapaksa administration last year.

One is intrigued. If what Amaraweera says is true, then the western governments used the accountability issues to create conditions here for the defeat of the Rajapaksa administration. What logically follows from his contention is that the West led Rajapaksa a merry dance on the question of alleged war crimes not out of any concern for human rights but for political reasons. Else, how can it be explained why turns of the screw stopped for all practical purposes in Geneva after the collapse of the Rajapaksa rule.

It is doubtful whether the outgoing UNSG’s visit will be of great help to this country. He ought to be more focused on flashpoints in the region, which require urgent UN attention. It is hoped that he won’t lose sight of the predicament of the Kashmiri people crying out for justice. Women in Kashmir, unable to bear untold suffering anymore and miffed about the UN inaction have gone so far as to offer their bangles to the UNSG by way of an affront. This, we believe, is a damning indictment on the UN on his watch.

It is hoped that the UNSG will keep an open mind, without standing pat during his brief stay here, and refrain from refusing to see the dividends of the defeat of terrorism. There have been no terrorist attacks on civilian centres since the end of the war in 2009; in the North and the East children go to school without fear of being abducted by the LTTE; civilians no longer have to pay protection money to terrorists; there are no child soldiers today and democracy has been rekindled in the former conflict zone so much so that the TNA, which stooped so low as to serve as the LTTE’s mouthpiece out of fear, now engages in democratic politics. Moreover, the UN workers can operate in the North and the East without being abducted and harassed by the LTTE. Envoys representing western nations are moving about in the North and the East freely without fearing terrorist attacks on the whirlybirds they travel in. We are sure the UNSG would have been reluctant to visit here let alone bring along his charming significant other if the LTTE had been around carrying out attacks.