Even garbage can be imported through FTA with Singapore: JO

3 July 2018 09:36 pm

The Joint Opposition (JO) today said the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signed with Singapore had enabled the import of waste materials released by municipal councils and medical facilities of other countries to Sri Lanka.

JO MP Bandula Gunawardana said the FTA has listed a number of waste materials categorized by the Harmonised System (HS) Code, which can be imported to Sri Lanka.

“Waste pharmaceuticals, sewage sludge and residual products of the chemical or allied industries are some of the waste materials which can be imported to the country in order to generate electricity and to use for other purposes,” he told a news conference.

He said a certain individual in Sri Lanka has already made preparations to bring down mountains of foreign garbage, 40 times the size of waste materials in the country, to be placed at Aruwakkalu landfill site in Puttalam.

He reiterated that the FTA has been signed without the approval of the President and the Cabinet.

“The President in a Cabinet Memorandum said any foreign agreement should be prepared in accordance with the National Trade Policy. However, the Singapore FTA has been finalised based on a ‘New Trade Policy,’” he said. (Lahiru Pothmulla)