CWG bid process not in vain

Shirajiv SIRIMANE

The recently concluded 2018 Hambantota Commonwealth Games (CWG) bid if successful would have brought multi pronged economic benefits not only to Hambantota but to the entire region.

However sadly there are still a few who only look at it from a negative perspective.

First the bid by virtually unknown Hambantota opened the eyes of the world that, "Hey there is a country called Sri Lanka which was in war for 30 years now trying to host a Commonwealth."

These countries which only knew Sri Lanka as a country having suicide bombers, regular bomb explosions in the cities and in public transport, villages being massacred by LTTE brutality and of course the tsunami, shifted their focus and started looking at the country in a different perspective.

As Preethi Jayawardane, Chairman of the Finance rightly said investors started to include Sri Lanka in their agenda, airlines and tourists too started to look at Sri Lanka more seriously.

"Most importantly the global image of the country changed dramatically from a negative perspective to a positive one and this could never have been done with an investment of Rs 800 million that was spent for the bid process even if all the government ministers were put together," he said. "Don't forget the economic advantages had we won the 2018 Commonwealth Games. It is strange why people failed to see the possible benefits to Sri Lanka and look at only the negative side of things," he said.

If Hambantota had won the bid, the country would have benefited in numerous ways. Sri Lanka's emergence as a middle income country is still not well-known in the globe. It would have given an unique opportunity to brand Sri Lanka across the globe.

Inflow of foreign investments will anyway have a major positive impact due to the bid process and the mileage the country got.

A number of foreign investors had pledged support to build infrastructure in the games village. Such investments will be long-term investments which Sri Lanka is eager to have.

Infrastructure development in and around the sports village would have opened new sources of income for people in the Hambantota district and that would have helped to redistribute income more effectively.

If Sri Lanka won the bid foreign investors were waiting to brand their companies and Sri Lanka was seen as a global branding destination.

Internationally reputed hotel chains have pledged to build hotels in Hambantota to facilitate accommodation requirements and that will help achieve the 2.5 million tourist arrival target in 2016.

The arrival of a large number of spectators from all regions to Sri Lanka would have raised her profile as a good hospitality centre and this position could have been secured without special efforts.

Visitors to the games would patronize touristic places in the country after the commonwealth and the free mileage gained from this would have been tremendous.

Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal who was the Co-Chairman of the bid process promised that these investments will go ahead as already investors for an international campus and several BPO centres have confirmed funding for them.

The rival Gold Coast has indicated that it is a life changing bid for Australia, because in the past the hosting of games has helped them to reach new heights in economic development.

Had Sri Lanka won the bid, the same benefits would have accrued to this country as well."

We are amazed why some people fail to forget the various benefits a country can achieve through hosting international level games," Governor Cabraal queried.

Although people predict that hosting the games would have been an unaffordable cost to Sri Lanka, with a careful and on-time expenditure program, the games could have brought enormous benefits which would overwhelmingly outweigh the cost.

He said that Sri Lanka would be looking at a US$ 21 billion public investment in the next five years and the cost to host the games which is around US$ 500 million was manageable.

"One must remember that sports today is a US$ 241 billion industry and we would definitely have exploited this to our advantage as well," he said. The Governor said that when Malaysia made a bid to host the 1998 Commonwealth Games in 1991 they were in the same economic equations like Sri Lanka.

In 1991 Malaysia's per capita income was US$ 2700, GDP of US $ 60 billion and had a population of 18.5 million along with several other equations which were similar to Sri Lanka today.

When the city was awarded the bid to host the games it helped Malaysia to be converted to an economic hub and today it is a developed country.

Places like Putrajaya which were isolated cities transformed into major international cities after the games and this too would have happened to Hambantota.

"If the 2018 bid was successful Sri Lanka would have been another Malaysia by 2018," he said.

By not awarding the games to an emerging country many say that it is the Commonwealth game federation and the votes which acknowledged Gold Coast are the ultimate losers as they have blocked a nation from moving up the economic ladder using the Commonwealth games as a stepping stone.