Founder Chairman of Pelwatte Dairy Industries, Master Divers, Former President of the Colombo Business Association and Chairman of Mawbima Lanka Foundation Ariyaseela Wickramanayake, a business personality with wide experience in the corporate sector in an interview with Mirror Business spoke about Hambantota Port’s strategic importance, country’s economic crisis, getting youth engaged in agriculture etc.
Following are the excerpts of the interview:
By Ishan Sheriffdeen
Q: You have been involved in the construction of Colombo Port’s first container terminal. How do you see Colombo Port’s performance over the years and its growth prospects?
The Colombo Port has performed well over the years. At present, its annual container handling capacity is about 7 million. According to an Asian Development Bank funded study on the port’s expansion, it will be able to handle up to 10-15 million TEUs annually. That’s all it can do.
So, how are we going to attract the two hundred odd vessels passing the Colombo Port? This is where we need the Hambantota Port to come in to cater to the growing cargo handling and other needs of vessels. The East and the West Ports will also come and will be able to accommodate a few ships. The Colombo Port will have its own share.
Q: You are a pioneer in calling for the necessity of a seaport in Hambantota. What are your views on the significance and progress made by this port so far?
I realised the importance of a seaport in Hambantota in the seventies, and did several studies on it. In 1997, I wrote a book on why it has to be Hambantota.
Hambantota is a strategic location. The sea port there can serve as a bridge between Africa and the Middle East on the one side and South East Asia on the other. It’s situated right in the middle of vital energy supply lines in the Indian Ocean.
Today’s Colombo will be Hambantota in the future. Job opportunities for the youth will be there. There will be hundreds of hotels coming up and Shangri La is already there. Hambantota will be a bustling city, along with the port’s development. Once the port’s oil refinery becomes operational, that will enable the country to meet its gas requirement locally and save the dollars.
Only a small part of the port has been completed by now, and a lot remains to be done. The Chinese investor has the money and resources to proceed, and they will have to build something bigger than the Hong Kong port.
Q: Do you think Sri Lanka could have averted an economic crisis?
Why not? We are in heaven. If we are making hell out of heaven, then it’s our problem. Whose debt that we have now? The largest chunk of the debt is owed for American wheat and not for Port City, highways or any other thing.
If you walk into a super market in Sri Lanka today, you could see the extent to which they are filled with imported food items. I am requesting from all citizens of the country to refrain from consuming foreign food; grow them locally and consume. I have been telling particularly the Housewives’ Association to pass this message across the country.
During Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike’s time, we had the tyre factory, Thultex, Veytex etc. We brought yarn and got clothes manufactured locally. Now we import clothing and almost everything. The majority of the present day generation wants to sit with a laptop, and have no interest in cultivation.
Way back in the 1950s the country was not in debt to anyone, instead self-sufficient in food. We did not export house maids then, but exported professionals such as doctors and engineers. It is therefore necessary that we go back to the good old days.
Q: What are the local industries that can be converted into major export ventures?
Poultry, fish, coconut, tea and rubber have a lot of potential. Most of the things can be developed locally.
Canned fish export is a good investment. What some local companies do here right now is import ‘Linna’ from China and can it here for export. We should grow our fish here for export. That will provide employment to many Sri Lankans.
Q: Does Pelwatte Dairy have any plans to enter new export markets?
Yes, we will start exporting milk powder mainly to China and a few African countries soon. That will be a historic first.
Q: Are former war-torn areas of North and East adequately engaged in agricultural activities at present?
There is a lot of cultivation happening there. Coconut, onions, chillies, potatoes etc are being cultivated in large scale. People living there should be given the freedom to work and supported. It shouldn’t be a Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim kind of thing. We all are Sri Lankans.
Q: Are present conditions in the country conducive to attract foreign investments?
No. Frequent strike action by trade unions in various sectors is a major obstruction. Such things will keep foreigners away. We are ruining our economy by ourselves.
Q: You are also heading the country’s oldest underwater repairs and salvage company. To what extent do you use your diving and underwater resources to promote tourism?
We train people as tourist guides, as divers, and we have also deployed boats for whale watching at a lighter scale. We provide various marine-related assistance for those promoting whale watching in areas such as Galle and Weligama.
Q: How could we get the country’s younger generation engaged in agriculture?
There are over five and a half million school going children in the country, other than those in O/L and A/L grades. School holidays should be given during ‘Yala’ and ‘Maha’ seasons and made these children to cultivate. Such systems are followed even in developed countries such as Japan.
Agriculture was the success of our past and it is our future too. Therefore we should go back to our roots and become an agricultural economy for the future prosperity of our country.
