Mahi, a pioneer who passionately believed in solar energy for Sri Lanka

Though my brother B. A. Mahipala had been terminally ill for some time, and I was expecting him to leave us soon, I received the news of his passing away with shock and sadness. For both of us, it has been a long journey spanning some 75 years as brothers. Mahi is younger than me by two and a half years. 

Although we had not been very close as some siblings are, we had our moments and have spent many hours of quality time in each other’s company on holidays, cruises, safaris and social gatherings. Although we went to the same primary school, S. Thomas’ Prep School in Kollupitiya and finally graduated from the Engineering Faculty of the Peradeniya University, we charted different paths and careers.

In 1971, I left Sri Lanka and came to the UK and settled down here to follow a professional career in the UK health sector. Mahi, who too could have easily migrated, stayed back in Sri Lanka and pursued a very successful business career. Though we lived and worked in different continents over the last 50 years, we have met regularly and done many things together and enjoyed each other’s company. 

Mahi had a canny sense of humour and was very funny in his own way. I remember once in passing I mentioned to him that my family may not even be able to find two Monks in London to attend my funeral to carry out the religious part of the funeral ceremony, he quipped ‘don’t worry I will bring a plane load of Monks from Colombo’.  Well, that is not going to happen now, and I will dearly miss him, especially his dry unique sense of humour.

His achievements are many but the following stand out.

Most of our family wealth and business enterprises inherited from our father were nationalised and destroyed by successive socialist governments of Sri Lanka in the fifties and seventies. Mahi rebuilt a new business enterprise that gave employment to thousands of people, earned millions in foreign currency and contributed substantially in taxes to the government coffers.

In a widely circulating video clip on social media, Champika Ranawaka the former Minister of Power in 2010 states that Mahi’s name should be etched in gold for his contribution to the Solar Industry

 Mahi was a source of strength to the family, and he kept the Bamunu Arachchi name alive. His generosity to family, friends and wider community is unparalleled and very well documented. He modernised and expanded the Homagama Hospital that our father founded some 70 years ago. The people of Homagama and the wider Sri Lankan community benefitted enormously from his philanthropy.

On a personal note, I must thank him for two things.

When I left the country in the early seventies in search of greener pastures, he stayed back and looked after our mother for many years until she passed away in 1977. For that, I am most grateful to him.

During the last fifteen years he was instrumental in organising wildlife safari trips to the African continent and India and rekindling my interest in photography. This has given me enormous pleasure and I owe that to Mahi.
Among his many business ventures, the one thing that stands out for me is his Solar Installations company, which he started some 15 years ago. He was a pioneer in this field in Sri Lanka and passionately believed in solar energy. He was convinced that solar energy was the answer to Sri Lanka’s power generation demand. Today, Sri Lanka has a mature solar industry with some 300 companies in business and this may not have happened if not for Mahi’s pioneering work. 

In a widely circulating video clip on social media, Champika Ranawaka the former Minister of Power in 2010 states that Mahi’s name should be etched in gold for his contribution to the Solar Industry. Champika was the Minister responsible for introducing net metering in SL and according to him we now have approximately 600 MW of installed solar power in SL. In this same interview, Champika says that if not for this element of power, instead of the 2-hour daily power cuts SL would be having 6-hour cuts

After all, is said and done, when power cuts in Sri Lanka are finally consigned to the ash heap of history, and when we have a robust national grid powered mainly by renewable sources led by solar energy, this nation will say Thank You Mahi. 

 B. Saranapala
17 The Gardens
Pinner
Middlesex HA55DW
UK