‘Investors already showing interest in revested ventures’

Disna MUDALIGE

Serious proposals for investment are already being received in respect of ventures that were brought under the government’s purview through the ‘Revival of Underperforming Enterprises and Under utilized State Assets Bill’ even before the lapse of 24 hours of its passage in Parliament, said Youth Affairs and Skills Development Minister Dullas Alahapperuma.

Addressing a press conference at the ministry premises yesterday, he invited private entrepreneurs to apply for serious investments in these state resources.

He noted that President Mahinda Rajapaksa has always encouraged the private sector and has helped this sector at crucial times in the past. He pointed out that President Rajapaksa reduced the income tax by 20 percent to encourage private investments and took over the Seylan Bank during its financial crisis in 2008, safeguarding the stability of the entire banking system. The minister reassured that this Bill cannot take over any private enterprise except the mentioned 37.

He observed that this Bill is not aimed at political harassment or petty political gain and some of the owners of the private enterprises which are to be taken over are close acquaintances of the President and the government. Alahapperuma said that the main opposition party of the country is deliberately misleading the public, including religious leaders with false and exaggerated claims that the government would also take over temples and kovils by this Bill. He said that the UNP is only opposing the take over of state land given to three private enterprises, namely, Sevanagala Sugar Industries Limited, Pelwatte Sugar Industries Limited and Lanka Tractors Limited and it has never commented that the content of the Bill is abusive.

The minister observed that the state land given to Lanka Tractors is worth over Rs 2,400million even though it was given at Rs 144 million, and that it does not have even a single employee now. He noted that the country’s sugar production, which was 65,000 metric tonnes when Sevanagala and Pelwatte companies were owned by the state, has declined to 35,000 metric tonnes now.

He said that even though Sevenagala was granted Rs 410 million tax benefits with the condition that it would export sugar, at least one kilogram of sugar was not exported upto now.

Alahapperuma said that the government decided on the under utilized state assets after a careful study since those have either seriously breached the agreements signed with the government or have diverted from the conditions they complied to obtain tax benefits.

”Even the enterprises which had failed to secure employee rights or enterprises which were neglected for years were also taken into account.” He challenged if there is any owner of the rest of the 33 enterprises listed in this Bill to come out observing that some of the owners have even left the country and there are no employees in these industries.