Lanka mired in UNP’s debt trap - Minister
Lakshmi DE SILVA
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Minister
Champika Ranawaka |
Sri Lanka is still mired in the debt trap set by the UNP Government
of J.R. Jayewardene. Colossal sums obtained as foreign debt is still
being paid. One clear example is the loan obtained for the accelerated
Mahaweli River Diversion Scheme, Environment and Natural Resources
Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka said at the UPFA press conference.
“The Jayewardene Government borrowed US$ 68 million for the Mahaweli
scheme and we have already paid installments of the loan with interest
accrued up to US$ 314 million.
But we still had to pay back $ 548 million with the interest added,”
he said.
Minister Ranawaka said when the actual cost of building a reservoir
was Rs 750 million, the UNP Government of 1977 prepared false estimates
for four times the actual cost.
These huge sums of money was spent not merely for the Mahaweli scheme
but to pay large sums of money for foreign engineers, spend on the
education of their children in other countries as well as for other
perks given to them.
“Today we are still caught in the debt trap though nearly 20 years
had elapsed after the Mahaweli reservoirs were built.
These foreign loans had benefited foreign engineering firms and their
employees so that the sums of money obtained were unrealistic.”
The UNP cannot in the face of this evidence say its fiscal and
economic policies had benefited the country.
These were clear cases of mismanagement but the people of the country
had to pay for these blunders,” the Minister said.
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