Features

Government’s five hubs and public service

24 Feb 2014 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Dinesh Weerakkody

The ‘Mahinda Chinthana Vision for the Future’ policy statement envisages making Sri Lanka a regional hub in five sectors. To ensure Sri Lanka is well poised to be the centre in the region, the government is looking to transform Sri Lanka into a strategically important economic centre by developing five strategic hubs— a knowledge hub, a commercial hub, a naval and maritime hub, an aviation hub and an energy hub— taking the advantage of Sri Lanka’s strategic location and resources.

Now to facilitate this we would need a highly motivated and competent public service. This will be a key element to our future success. The public service would be expected to simplify and streamline some of the procedures while ensuring transparency, if we are to experience rapid development in all the five hubs.

Public sector capacity
Therefore, there is an urgent need to improve the public sector performance. Inertia in the public sector will stifle the development performance of the country. Bureaucratic bottlenecks will slow down not only the public sector but also the private sector.

The performance of the country’s public service has been uneven. The upgrading of skills in leadership and strategic management and project planning, development and management are urgent. The utilization of funds on donor-assisted projects has been a challenge for Sri Lanka.

Hence, it is imperative for the government to redouble its capacity building efforts within the public service to improve the absorptive capacity of regional fund flows and for the effective utilization of capital flows, since the development impact is of strategic importance to the country.

In addition, there is a need for the private sector and the government to work seamlessly, hand in glove, with common objectives and goals with the same mind-set and have similar aspirations if we are to realize the full potential of the five hubs. The target for rapid capacity building should be the Sri Lanka Administrative Service. Development projects are the cutting edge of development and will remain so in the foreseeable future.

In view of this, it would be necessary for the government to take urgent steps to train a core group of competent leaders in the public sector to spearhead the key strategic initiatives of the government. Therefore, the state should look to develop a critical mass of 100 SLAS officers and get them trained in leadership, strategic management project planning and management. Critically,

Provide training on leadership, strategic planning and management skills;
Provide exposure on project planning and design tools;
Provide insights and skills required in the appraisal of development projects;
Provide an in-depth assessment of project implementation issues and improve capacity for project implementation;
Provide an opportunity to develop skills in monitoring and evaluation of projects; and
Provide skills on managing regulatory interventions, negotiation and conflict resolution.

In the final analysis, an effective public service will enable the government to establish the legal and regulatory structures that are required to transform Sri Lanka and move it into higher value-added activities in both industry and services.

Overall, Sri Lanka will need better skills, more competition, a leaner public sector, a better knowledge base, smarter cities and a greater effort to ensure environmental sustainability to maximize our country’s full potential.

Features

Government’s five hubs and public service

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