By

Upul Joseph Fernando

There’s a visible battle within the government over the Chinese Port City Project initiated by the previous government. The cause of this battle was the recent announcement to the media by the Health Minister and Cabinet Spokesman, Dr. Rajitha Senaratne that the Cabinet had decided to go ahead with the project which was the subject of a controversial issue raised by the then opposition. The very next day Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe contradicted the statement of the minister stating no such decision had been taken.

Rajitha is no China supporter. He is a close friend of India. He faced threats from the JVP when he bravely stood in support of the 13th Amendment. When Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Government wanted to remove land and police powers from the 13th Amendment, Rajitha bravely fought against it. He held media briefings against that move with some of his Cabinet colleagues. That he did when Mahinda’s Government was at the peak of power. Once Mahinda indirectly told Rajitha at a parliamentary group meet to leave his government if Rajitha disagreed with the policies of Mahinda’s Government. Then Rajitha chose to announce in public that he was not prepared to betray the Northern issue for the sake of a ministerial portfolio. Therefore, it is difficult to believe that Rajitha who has such a dignified past, will ever cater to Chinese needs. It is visible that China had managed to creep into the government within a very short time to create problems in the government.

Need to continue

The Chinese ambassador in Colombo who met Investment Promotion Minister, Kabir Hashim and Deputy Minister Eran Wickremeratne, stressed the need to continue with the Chinese backed projects stating such projects were mediated by the Chinese President. Moreover, the Chinese ambassador had met several UNPers to muster their support towards the continuance of Chinese projects. He had met SLFP Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne separately to obtain his support towards Chinese projects. However, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe in Parliament did not deny the fact of the Chinese Port City Project being discussed at Cabinet. He only said that no decision was taken in that regard. That proved that the issue was discussed at the Cabinet. If a decision was not arrived to proceed with the project at Cabinet level, Rajitha would not have made such an announcement to the media at the weekly official Cabinet news conference.

Earlier, an announcement made by Rajitha at the weekly Cabinet press briefing on former Chief Justice Mohan Peiris too raised eyebrows in many circles. Rajitha said that the President and the Prime Minister had instructed Peiris to resign and that the latter had agreed to step down. That too was contradicted by Peiris. However, later it was proved true that the President and Prime Minister had instructed Peiris to step down. The statements on the Chinese Port City Project made by Ranil as the then Opposition Leader and incumbent Prime Minister are contradictory in nature. Ranil as Opposition Leader told Parliament: “The Cabinet paper that was approved mentioned that the Colombo Port City Development Project had been made on the basis of the Cesma International Private Limited Report. However, the content of the present proposal and the proposal made in the Cesma International Private Limited Report are two different and contradictory with regard to the location and structure.

The Sri Lanka Ports Authority had entered into a MoU with the CCCC prior to the Cabinet approval had been granted for the work of Colombo Port City Development Project, violating regulations in the Tender procedures issued in 1998. According to the regulations, a Standing Cabinet Appointed Review Committee (SCARC) should study these proposals to make an assessment. The SCARC would have to take into consideration the 1998 and 2004 reports to prepare the assessment report. However, the Cabinet Paper does not contain any mentioning with regard to such an assessment. The Cabinet Paper mentions the CCCC report as an unsolicited report by the investor.

Except for the CCCC there are much larger and older companies in the Netherlands and Japan more suitable for this purpose. The approval for this project should have been granted after calling for proposals from the competitive companies and considering the most suitable one. But the Cabinet Paper does not have any mentioning to such a process being followed in granting the approval to the CCCC.

Whenever there is a proposal, the approval should be granted only after considering facts such as what is the technical plan and how are they going to find funds etc. The Cabinet Paper has no mentioning pertaining to such considerations. The government had told Parliament that it would grant 20 hectares to the company that reclaims the sea in compensation to its expenses. But according to the Cabinet Paper the Chinese company that would reclaim the sea and would create a land of 233 hectares would receive 108 hectares. The company would have outright ownership for 20 hectares and would get 88 hectares under 99-year lease. According to the early reports of the CCCC, the project should be implemented as a government funded project.

The CCCC is not a company with a good reputation. It had been once banned by the World Bank, which had even rejected later appeals by the company to remove the ban. According to the legal cooperation among the World Bank and other international financial organizations, once a company becomes blacklisted in one organization, all other international bodies do the same. The Cabinet Paper does not mention this situation with regard to the CCCC”.

Presidential election campaign

During the Presidential election campaign, Ranil’s reference to the Chinese port city project was reported in the following terms: “Opposition United National Party (UNP) Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said today the new government, which would be formed by the joint opposition after the current regime was defeated at the 8 January elections, would scrap the Colombo Port City Project.

Wickremesinghe told tourist industry leaders who met him today that the project would be scrapped because it would end up destroying the coastal belt from Negombo to Beruwala. He said the international airport at Mattala would be made viable and put to better economic use while a new airport would be constructed in the Eastern Province.

Wickremesinghe said the new government would put in place a programme on a long-term basis to attract high-spending tourists with the intention of converting Sri Lanka into a major tourist hub by 2025. “We will make sure that the tourist industry will provide all stakeholders with equal opportunities and a level playing field,” he added while answering several questions posed by the industrialists.UNP parliamentarian and economist Harsha De Silva also participated at the meeting”.

Then Ranil and his Government took a U-Turn for the ‘The Hindu’ newspaper to report:

“Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Friday clarified that no decision had been taken yet on proceeding with the China-funded port city project coming up in Colombo. He was responding to a question from Anura Kumara Dissanayake, leader of the Leftist-nationalist Janathā Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). Dissanayake raised the issue in Parliament, citing Cabinet spokesperson and Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne’s Thursday announcement that the government had decided to go ahead with the project.Contradicting his Cabinet Minister’s remarks, Wickremesinghe said, a separate committee and a Cabinet sub-

committee that he heads would look into the details of the project, including its impact on the environment. “I got down all the files relating to this project soon after this government came to power. On inspecting them, I found that all the required reports are not there,” he said. His clarification comes a day after Senaratne told media persons that a credible environment impact assessment report from Sri Lanka’s Moratuwa University had cleared the reclamation component of the project. The government would go ahead with the project, the Minister had said.

The China-funded port city, a $1.34-billion project coming up near Colombo’s Galle Face beach, has been in news ever since it was inaugurated in September by Chinese President Xi Jinping who visited Sri Lanka. Just ahead of Sri Lanka’s presidential polls in January, Wickremesinghe – who was then the Opposition Leader – said the project would be scrapped should his joint coalition come to power, due to serious threats to the environment. Going by Wickremesinghe’s emphatic comments pre-election, the Cabinet’s nod for the project – announced on Thursday by Senaratne – seemed a virtual U-turn in its position”.

There’s nothing wrong

However, Minister Rajitha says there’s nothing wrong in the Chinese project. Following is a report from a newspaper interview of the minister: “The Cabinet decided to go ahead with the Colombo Port City Project under Chinese funding. There’s nothing detrimental in the environmental impact reports. The Prime Minister stated that the project should proceed with understanding with the Chinese Government”.

Media – Before the election in January you all said it would be scrapped. Why decide to proceed now?
Minister – We never said so. We are the ones who started it.

Media – The then Opposition Leader said it.

Minister – Did he say so? May be before he joined us! I am responsible only for the period after we joined.

Media – Are you giving the Cabinet nod because the project is good or are you afraid that China will get annoyed?

Minister – The project can’t be bad as I was also a minister in that government.

Media- Will not there be erosion of the coast, as stated earlier?

Minister – No… nothing like that. The environment assessment report is prepared by the Moratuwa University. There are no issues. If there were any, China will not come in.

Media – India was opposed to it earlier……

Minister – No…nothing like that. Only if submarines come India will oppose.

Come what may, India is closely watching this drama of the government with curiosity. India has mentioned many times that she has issues over this project. This project was one cause for India to fall out with Mahinda.

India’s problem is: Why did Colombo give priority to the Chinese Port City Project over the priority list of issues in the 100-day programme?

Courtesy:Ceylon Today