Development drive gets into top gear

Prasanna ADHIKARI-Translated by D. P. Wickremasinghe

Several sensitive problems have cropped up in the country today. Fuel price hike and the bus fare increase can be identified as the most sensitive problems of them all. Opposition parties have started to issue media statements and conduct street demonstrations based on these twin problems. These problems are quite evident. Another problem haunting the minds of the people is whether there will be price increase in other goods.

We should examine as to why and who is at fault for people not feeling the progress Sri Lanka has achieved in physical and human development. Economic and social analysts have introduced various indices to measure the country's achievements in the development sphere.

Factors such as mental happiness, leisure, freedom and environmental bonds have been included in these indices. Sri Lanka which is a multi-religious, multi-cultural and multi-communal country was subjected to a war for nearly three decades. This situation threatened the lives of all Sri Lankans.

Certain insurance companies even did away with insurance schemes which covered accidents caused by terrorist acts and bomb explosions. An environment where the value of human lives was neglected had arisen. Human rights, human values and spiritual values had degenerated. Local and foreign forces tied to incite communal violence. Today an environment has been created where all these unfair and biased operations can be eliminated and human values and human rights of all people can be safeguarded.

Democracy, freedom and equality are being strengthened within society. In this background, the country has started its march towards development. As a developing country have we attained economic, social cultural and mental development relative to the past period?

Social development

Let us pay our attention to several major projects launched by the government to provide economic strength to the people and enable them realise their hopes and aspirations.

The Gama Neguma project has been launched by several ministries, including the Economic Development Ministry, to uplift rural life. Allocations made for this project annually was Rs 9,000 million in 2009, Rs 9,000 million in 2010, Rs 12,000 million in 2011 and Rs 14,000 million in 2012.

Through this programme, roads, canals, electricity, telecommunication and other infrastructure facilities are being developed in rural areas. The government is implementing long-term plans to construct and develop community centres, common wells, crematoriums, playgrounds, small tanks and canals to provide improved facilities to rural people.

Under the Divi Neguma programme, a group of 100 families have been identified from each of the 14,000 villages to cover all villages. The Divi Neguma programme is now being successfully implemented to create economic and social progress among these 100 family units. For this, Rs 4.4 billion was set apart in 2011 while Rs 6.5 billion has been allocated for 2012.

It is hoped to uplift 1,400,000 families per year. Under this programme, each family will be able to supply its own requirements of food, milk, vegetables and fruits. This will not only provide economic strength but also nutrition to the family. Through this, it is hoped to economically strengthen poor rural and urban families. The government has also drawn attention to developing infrastructure facilities countrywide.

Road development

With the end of the 30-year war, the government has planned to modernize the country's road network targeting short-term and long-term economic development.

Through this building of expressways, flyovers, roads with wide lanes and urban circular roads have started. Rupees 97.4 billion was invested in 2011 to develop the ordinary road network and it is hoped to invest another Rs. 128 billion for this in 2012.

The Kottawa-Galle expressway has already been vested in the public. A length of 186 km of this expressway has been completed. Initial steps have been taken to create the 98.9 km Colombo-Kandy expressway too.

The road network in the Eastern Province has now been completed along with the Arugam Bay, Kinniya, Puduveikattu, Irakkandy and Yan Oya bridges. Five new bridges and seven flyovers have been completed to replace ferries. A large amount of funds have been invested in these massive projects.

By this time all large-scale bridges in the Eastern Province had been completed. Rural roads are also being developed under the Diyawara Gammana related road development programme. Creating the background for political, social, cultural and communal unity by joining the village and city through such massive development is a major victory we have achieved as a nation.

Political freedom

It is the political freedom which was the main factor which contributed towards these positive developments. It is due to these political and military victories that we were able to clear our black mark as a country of death and destruction and a country without human rights violations and build up the national pride and respect of our motherland. But some remaining shadows are still haunting in the international arena. One of these groups is the expatriate LTTE network and the other is the Western forces trying to destroy the country's independence and territorial integrity. It is in the face of these wicked conspiracies that we were able to liberate the country by defeating LTTE terrorists who were termed as invincible by international forces. Today we can describe Sri Lanka as a country free of terrorism.

All communities joining hands to achieve this is a significant feature. Politically Sri Lanka is a stable country. There are no political conflicts or ethnic conflicts. But certain political parties and organizations have still not stopped trying to create them. No Sri Lankan can wipe his hands off by leaving the responsibility of creating communal unity and amity on the government only.

When the war ended Sri Lanka gained international attention and exposure. Foreigners arrived in Sri Lanka in large numbers as tourists and to pursue business activities.

As a result the Tourist Industry has today started a march towards accelerated development. Accordingly 447,890 tourist arrivals were recorded in 2009, while 654,476 arrivals were recorded in 2010, and 855,975 arrivals in 2011. Tourist arrivals seem to increase progressively and this is good investment towards increasing national income.

In order to maintain this trend it is essential to ensure the necessary political and natural environment, safety and security and a high degree of hospitality. The Economic Development Ministry has created the necessary environment for this. The large number of big hotels now coming up is testimony to this.

Economic dividends

Moreover, the government has paid attention to all social needs and requirements as never before. Electricity supply has now reached 92 percent of the national requirement. The balance will be completed before the end of 2013. Upper Kotmale hydro-electricity scheme and massive power stations like Lakvijaya and Yugadanavi have already been activated. People without a roof over their heads underwent untold suffering due to the war. The government has launched short and long-term plans to build houses for them.

After the conclusion of the war displaced persons have returned to their villages without languishing in refugee camps for long. The challenge before the government is to find quick solutions to the housing problem of the people in the North and East. To fulfill this, the government has implemented several housing programmes. One programme is earmarked for the North while the other covers the entire country.

In 2010, a sum of Rs 644.71 million has been spent for house building. The number of houses built so far is 7,591. In 2011, Rs 5603.9 million was spent to build 26,599 houses while Rs. 11,091.4 million has been allocated in 2012 to build an estimated 50,000 houses. Apart from this Rs. 68.3 million was spent for renovating existing houses of 7,500 families in 2010 while Rs. 280 million was spent in 2011 to renovate houses belonging to 5,100 families.

In 2012 a sum of Rs 270.77 million has been allocated for renovating existing houses. This shows that massive funds have been allocated for housing programmes. The objective of this programme is to provide a house to every family without a house within a short period. While protection is offered to the family with shelter above their heads a large number of projects have been launched to promote agricultural development. A programme to create a self sufficient nation has been launched through the 'Api Wawamu - Rata Nagamu' programme. A large acreage of fallow lands have been cultivated under this programme. These are mostly lands in the North and East. This provides a good harvest to the nation while accruing economic dividends to people in the North and East.

Paddy production in 2009 was 3,651,670 metric tons. In 2010 it was 4,044,000 mt. and in 2012 it is 3,000,000 mt. Paddy production has steadily increased and the government has established a guaranteed price of Rs 28 per kilo of Nadu rice and Rs 30 per kilo of Samba rice. This year the PMB has been allocated Rs 1,000 million for the paddy purchasing exercise. The Ministry of Finance has set apart Rs. 2,200 million for the paddy purchasing exercise during this quarter.

The government allocates a massive fertilizer subsidy annually for paddy and other crops. In 2008 Rs 26.4 billion was set apart for the fertilizer subsidy while the allocation for subsequent years was; 2009 – Rs 26.9 billion, 2010- Rs 26 billion, 2011 – Rs 29.8 billion and 2012 - Rs. 33.8 billion.

Welfare measures

All this money has been invested to obtain a bountiful harvest and uplift the farmer community. During a certain period there were plans to stop paddy cultivation and use paddy fields for aquaculture. The government's objective is to produce all the country's food requirements locally. Meanwhile, the attention of the government has been drawn towards other sectors as well.

In most countries health, education and transport facilities are provided for a fee. These enterprises are run as profit earning ventures. But Sri Lanka in spite of its economic difficulties has not pruned people's welfare measures and they are continued without disruption.

Free uniforms, textbooks as well as scholarships and Mahapola assistance is provided to the student population numbering 4.5 million.

In 2008 a sum of Rs 100.1 billion was allocated for education while Rs 100.5 billion was allocated in 2009.

In 2010, Rs 104.2 billion was allocated while Rs 120 billion and Rs 132 billion was allocated for education in 2011 and 2012 respectively.

The government has spent Rs 74.5 billion for health and sanitation services in 2008, while Rs 71.5 billion was allocated in 2009, Rs 73.8 billion in 2010, Rs 88 billion in 2011 and Rs 103 billion was allocated in 2012.

The government has also paid attention towards cultural and communication sectors as well as technology and research.

The background is prepared to create a good mentality among the people by developing literary, art and fine arts sectors. The government has intervened to provide the necessary assistance to artistes to facilitate this. Foremost among them are the Ranmihitenne tele village and the Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapaksa theatre.

Communication and development

Communication has today become a powerful technical tool. Land and mobile phone usage in 2000 was 6.3 percent of the population. In 2011 it shot up to 105.3 percent. Today mobile phone use has increased to 18 million. Total telecommunication use has exceeded 22 million. This has provided instant and quick communication facilities to the people. Kokavil Telecommunication tower was commissioned to cover the Northern Province and parts of Eastern Province. All the people including Tamils now have easy access to telecommunication, televisions and internet facilities that were denied to them by the LTTE terrorists. Steps are underway to build the Nelum Tower, highest (tallest) Telecom tower in South Asia.

We should see how far it is logical to measure the economic growth or downfall of a country by the minor price fluctuations happening daily. We should find out whether the fluctuation of the price of certain consumer items results in the destruction of overall the economic development of a country. Temporary financial difficulties are common to the whole country and the consumer population numbering 20 million. A country's economic growth or downfall cannot be gauged by conclusions made without deeper investigation into the whole economic and financial structure influencing the people.

Dearth of poverty

With the influx of large scale investors following economic expansion, there has been an increase in job opportunities. This widened job opportunities for unemployed youth. New job opportunities were created in the tourism, agriculture, industrial, technology and communication sectors. This greatly reduced unemployment. More income flowed into the hands of the people and consequently poverty has shown a reduction. Poverty which was 28.8 percent in 1995/1996 reduced to 22.7 percent in 2002. In 2006/2007 it was 15.2 percent and in 2009/2010 it was 8.9 percent.

Unemployment which was 6.0 percent in 2007 reduced continuously to 5.4 percent in 2008. In 2009, unemployment was 5.8 percent and in 2010 it was 4.9 and in 2011, it was 4.3 percent.

Per capita income has been rapidly increasing. In 2007 per capita income was 1,617 US dollars and subsequent figures were 2,014 US dollars in 2008, 2,057 US dollars in 2009, 2,399 US dollars in 2010 and 2,830 US dollars in 2011.

The Finance Ministry says the foundation has been laid to increase per capita income to 4,000 US dollars within the next few years.

Property ownership

Ownership of movable and unmovable property among the people too has shown an upward trend. In 2009, there were 1,896,021 registered motorcycles. In 2010, this increased to 2,100,832. In 2011, the number of registered motorcycles was 2,354,163 which is a heavy increase. In 2009, there were 443,895 registered three-wheelers and in 2010 this increased to 529,543. In 2011, there were 667,969 registered three-wheelers.

According to these statistics each family unit was roughly in possession of a motorcycle or three-wheeler for transport. Financial progress is seen among family units due to the increase in per capita income, low prices of essential goods and subsidies.

The best example for this is the banking system.

The number of banks branches which was 1,411 in 2000 has increased to 6,094 in 2011.

There has been a rapid increase in money circulation and transactions among individuals.

The main factor contributing to this is that the government's overall economic planning has brought direct and indirect financial dividends to the people.

Another reason for this is the maintenance of economic growth at 8 percent continuously for two years and keeping inflation within a single digit for three years at a stretch.

Our foreign reserves too increased to 8.2 billion US dollars in 2011. The direct benefits of this economic expansion will accrue to the people.

Wonder of Asia

Benefits of development are flowing down to all parts from the North to South.

There are many more achievements to be made and shortcomings to be corrected during Sri Lanka's march towards the Wonder of Asia. The government should pay more attention to bribery, corruption and waste occurring in certain sectors. Then priorities should be identified properly in the march towards development.

Future challenges cannot be overcome by mere media and prestige shows aimed at mere political gain. Resolve and dedication is needed to achieve the desired objectives. The best answer for opposition criticism would be transparency in the government's work.

International challenges cannot be hidden from the people. The government should join hands with the people to collectively face and overcome them.

Communal and party differences can be set aside for this. A Sri Lankan nation is still living within this motherland. Educating people about the financial changes occurring in the world which are beyond our means of solving them will be of much benefit to the country. If people become more sensitive towards economic, social and political changes and decisions taking place in the world, it would not be difficult for us to overcome challenges posed by international forces in the future.