The UNP and its bogus FDIs - enough is enough

Sri Lanka's performance within these past four years has been nothing short of a failure. In 2015, the UNP took over the government, promising to transform this country into a hub and a hot spot for investors and even pledged to make grave changes just within 100 days in office.

Winning over the voters with their fantasy election pledges and vowing to perform far much better than the Rajapaksa government, this government began its journey with a lie, which today has led to a hundred more lies.

On Tuesday, in Parliament, I was able to expose all the lies and failures of this government and how they have been misleading its citizens for the past 4 years.

I would categorically like to state here that highlighting the failures of this government gives me no pleasure but it is shocking to see how much they have misled the people, especially now, just months before the Presidential election.  

Their lies have resulted in a nation of 21 million people suffering immensely and the opportunities that we deserve being swept away. In every part of the country, our people are suffering with the rising cost of living, the unjust taxes, the lack of educational facilities and the lack of jobs. 

Their story is only worsening.  

Back in 2015, the UNP made several pledges. They started off saying that within a short span of a year or two they would raise Sri Lanka's economic growth to 8%. However today, Sri Lanka's economic growth remains at 3.1% to 3.2%, with global banks unable to predict anything higher than 3.6%.

Then in 2016, the UNP government said a Volkswagon plant would be set up in Kuliyapitiya and in 2017, the foundation stone for the plant was laid by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. Even before both the leaders could arrive back in Colombo from the grand ceremony, Volkswagon denied plans in setting up any plant here. This caused much embarrassment to the government which immediately prompted Prime Minister Wickremesinghe to say that the government had never stated that the vehicle assembly plant was a Volkswagon plant. The story was never continued there after.

That same year, in 2016, then Finance Minister, Ravi Karunanayaka said that a Belgium investor would park $1 billion in Sri Lanka which would help the nation defend its rupee. Minister Karunanayaka did not reveal the identity of the investor but said the investor would transfer the money from banks in Luxembourg and Brussels. However no one heard of what happened to that so called investor and we are still waiting for that investor to park his money here.

Then in 2017, the UNP government said it had entered into a $2 billion agreement with an Al Aman group to construct Asia's tallest tower and the 9th tallest tower in the world, in Colombo 2.

The UNP boasted that this tower would include 1,200 residential units, 2,000 hotel rooms, 3,000 retail outlets, 5,000 car-parking spaces, the Al Aman 7-star hotel, 20 luxurious swimming pools, gold presidential suites with gold-plated interiors, world’s fastest double-decker elevators, first Michelin starred restaurant in Sri Lanka, stunning observation deck and a helipad on the topmost floor.  

It was further boasted that it would be the first of its kind in Sri Lanka, which would be an ultimate tribute to Sri Lanka as well as in the Asian economy, and was expected to be completed by end of 2022. However, investigations revealed that there were no records of any Al Aman offices outside of Sri Lanka except for one in the United Arab Emirates, with a phone number that still continues to be out of service. Moreover, the so called Al Aman did not even have a website. When questions were raised, the story was immediately discontinued.

Then in 2016, 2017 and 2018 the UNP said it would receive investors for oil and gas exploration in the Mannar basin. Their story on this has been the same for the past three years but we are yet to see investors. In fact, Hon. Kabir Hashim reiterated this story just a few days ago in Parliament that the oil and gas exploration in the Mannar basin would begin next year and the agreement would be signed with a prospective investor on a production sharing basis. This is once again pushing the project by a further year and once again keeping the so called investor under wraps.

Then in the start of 2019, the UNP said Sri Lanka had received the largest ever FDIs in 2018, of $2.37 billion. This indeed must be true. But what the UNP is failing to tell you is that over 85% of those FDIs were of those initiated during the Rajapaksa regime. To date the UNP has not even been able to bring in FDIs worth even $20 million.

Then in 2019, the UNP finally took the cherry by stating that after four years, the country would finally gets its largest FDI ever of $3.85 billion by constructing an oil refinery in Hambantota. Although sitting in the opposition rank, this news was welcomed even by us as the country is in desperate need of FDIs.

However this turned out to be another saga altogether with one of the mentioned partners of this project, the Oman Ministry of Oil and Gas saying they had never heard of the agreement and the main investor, Silver Park International having no authorized owner. As I have mentioned before, although the company belonged to a Tamil Nadu politician and his wife, both of them have in a recent statements back in South India, admitted that they are no longer share holders of the company. Further more, Silver Park International was only registered in 2017, but the UNP government had submitted this cabinet paper in 2016. How can that even be possible?

And now all parties to this deal are admitting that negotiations are still on going and no deal has been finalized. Then what was the ceremony conducted on March 24, on the day of the Prime Minister's 70th birthday? For what was a foundation stone laid? What was the grand ceremony all about when the parties are yet to finalize any deal?

We as politicians are seated in Parliament due to our voters. If we try to grab power by deceiving the very people who have put us there, then this will only lead to our down fall. The UNP government have lied enough. Neither has this county seen any prosperity under them and I can assure you the remaining months they continue in power will also be month of lies and failure.

I urge them to stop deceiving the people. The country did not end terrorism to see its government lying to its own people. If it cannot work for the people, I urge them to step down and allow a capable government to take over. Enough is enough.