Govt will ensure smooth supply of oil - Premajayantha

The government will have long term contracts with public organizations of oil producing countries to ensure the smooth supply of oil and avoid any shortage of petroleum products. Discussions will be held within the next few weeks, said Petroleum Industries Minister Susil Premajayantha during an interview with the Daily News.

Following is the full text of the interview:

Q: What are your plans for the Petroleum Industries Ministry for 2012 to push forward the Mahinda Chinthanaya – Vision for the Future?

A: The Petroleum Industries Ministry has plans for 2012 to push forward the Mahinda Chinthanaya. There are two institutions under the purview of this ministry. They are the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) and the Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminals Limited (CPSTL).

Discussions are ongoing between the government and oil producing foreign countries to obtain best rates for oil favourable to the country. The government will have long term contracts with public organizations of these countries to ensure the smooth supply and to avoid any shortage of petroleum products. Discussions will be held within the next few weeks.

Employees welfare is one of the key areas that will receive special attention this year. Their salaries will be increased this year.

More steps will be taken this year to ensure the smooth functioning of the CPC and CPSTL. The salaries of CPC employees will be increased this year. Arrears of previous salary increase will be given in five installments. One installment has already been granted last year and the balance four installments will be granted to them.

Work has commenced to expand the oil refinery in Sapugaskanda. We have received many proposals. They will be evaluated by technical experts and taken a decision to expand and refurbish the existing oil refinery in Sapugaskanda. CPSTL is responsible for storing and distributing petroleum products. It has four main storages. Currently, ships discharge oil using the old pipeline from the Port to Kolonnawa. Laying of the new pipeline between Port and Kolonnawa will commence in the first quarter of this year. It is planned to complete the project this year.

After completion, we can stop leakages and discharge oil without any delay. The capacity of regional storages and filling stations will be increased to meet the demand. Distributing petroleum products from Muthurajawela will be increased. The entire distribution network will be streamlined.

Problems arose last year because many key positions in the CPC fell vacant. I pointed this out during the last few months. A new full time Chief Executive Officer (CEO), a new financial controller and other key officials will be appointed early this year to fill the vacancies in the CPC. The entire management system of the CPC will be reorganized this year.

Q: Is there a possible fuel hike in the near future?

A: At the moment there is no decision to increase the price of fuel. But we cannot predict what will happen in the world oil market when some countries impose sanctions on Iran, one of the leading oil producing countries in the world. At present, there is significant unrest in certain oil producing countries in the Middle East.

Q: The LLRC report is now released and also tabled in Parliament. Please comment.

A: A majority of Sri Lankans, including religious dignitaries, scholars etc. commended the LLRC report. This report is an eyeopener to some international organizations which made comments against the LLRC prematurely. The government will take necessary action to implement the recommendations made by the LLRC report.

Q: The JVP has divided into two pieces now. What do you think about this split?

A: The JVP split is natural. After the 1971 and 1989 insurgencies, the JVP started to expand its political activities within a democratic framework. As a result, the JVP played a key role to defeat the UNP and form the UPFA. But now with its split, one faction is trying to improve their political activities outside the democratic framework and it may be a repetition of 1971 and 1989. But the vast majority of the country will reject it.

Q: The UNP crisis is getting more and more complicated. What will be the future of the UNP?

A: The UNP is in a very pathetic situation today. We had some problems when we were in the Opposition for 17 years. But we gradually reformed and reorganized the party and came into power in 1994.

There is no shortcut to come to power. Some politicians in the UNP want to come to power immediately. But none of these politicians tried to obtain power while President Mahinda Rajapaksa fought with the LTTE during the 2005 -2009 period. None of them helped the government. They criticized the leadership and the process and indirectly helped some international organizations to act against the government. After defeating the LTTE, they are now eager to come to power.

The people of Sri Lanka know these facts. During the last Local Government polls, the people gave a 5/6 majority to the UPFA. Voters from cities, urban areas, villages and elsewhere voted for the UPFA and strengthened the hands of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the UPFA government.

Q: As a former Education and Higher Education Minister what do you have to say about the recent issue on Advanced Level Examination results?

A: According to the available information I do not see any issue regarding paper marking and the results. The issue is in connection with what happened while trying to link the z-score for two examinations and preparing ranks. According to my knowledge, around 50,000 students who sat for this exam have already applied for university entrance.

A special committee has already been appointed to look into the matter and their report will be handed over to the President in the next few days. In future, the Examinations Department should release the results after making sure that there is a 100 percent accuracy of results. This applies for all the examinations and not only for the Advanced Level examination.

Q: Do you have any message for the public?

A: Usually from time to time, issues arise in a specific field. But there are solutions for all these issues. Nobody can mislead the public because of one particular issue. During elections, the people take a decision only after carefully analyzing the entire situation instead of one or two issues.

Some politicians comment on some issues totally forgetting the history of the country. Therefore, it is the duty of the citizens to think and analyze carefully before taking a decision on such comments.

If President Mahinda Rajapaksa was not elected as the President of Sri Lanka in 2005 where do we stand today? It is same in the future. If we do not get a strong and stable leadership in the future, the country will not be able to achieve rapid development and maintain peace. This is the message I want to send to the Sri Lankan public.