‘The future beyond the war...’

The Management Club recently had Minister of Public Administration and Home Affairs and Deputy Minister of Finance Dr Sarath Amunugama addressing their members and guests on the theme “The way forward for Sri Lanka beyond the war”.

Speaking on infrastructure development in a post war era, at this event held recently at the Galle Face Hotel, Dr Amunugama commended the members of the Management Club for their contribution to economic and social development in the country and for arranging such a forum for interaction of ideas and sharing knowledge.

He indicated that a UN study had shown that the Western Province had a GDP growth rate of 12-14 percent which was even better than what countries like India and China had recorded while the rest of Sri Lanka has been lagging behind with only the Central Province recording a medium growth rate.

The Minister spoke on the importance of infrastructure development as a catalyst for economic growth and indicated that the labour intensive industries in the Western Province has resulted in more people moving into these urban areas thus necessitating vast improvements on road networks transportation etc. compared to the rural areas.

Comparatively the facilities that have been provided to the remote villages have always been insufficient though attempts have been made for infrastructure development in these areas even from the time of state council governance, said the Minister. Dr Amunugama said that power generation was one sector that was vital for growth and that somewhere along the way Sri Lanka seems to have missed out on her target of achieving a 10 percent growth in electricity to achieve the anticipated growth in the industrial sector.

He also recognised the important contribution made to this sector by the small power generation projects while the concentration had always been on developing mega power projects.

The Minister said that a window of opportunity will open for growth in the tourism sector, especially in the east, once the conflict situation is resolved and that the government looks forward to promote public sector - private sector partnerships in these areas where the land will be owned by the state while the private sector would bring in the managerial expertise.

The Way Forward series of meetings have provided the opportunity for TMC’s members and their guests to interact and network regularly with personnel from different spheres while learning from the experiences of distinguished personalities who have excelled in their careers.

A TMC spokesperson said that they will continue the series on a regular basis.