People’s right to information
View(s):The Government this week gave three projects strategic development status through a gazette notification, providing them special tax concessions.
The projects cited as mixed development or integrated resorts are Lake Leisure Holdings jointly by Australian casino tycoon James Packer and local businessman/casino owner Ravi Wijeratne, Queensbury Leisure by businessman Dhammika Perera and Waterfront Poperties by John Keells Holdings (JKH). All these three projects have publicly announced that casinos would be a component of their projects.
However the gazettes have no reference to casinos in these projects. So does it mean that no casinos would be located at these projects, as Deputy Minister of Investment Promotion Faizer Musthapha has said in a newspaper report this week headlined “Mixed projects not for casinos”?
In that report, the deputy minister is quoted as saying that no green light has been given for casinos or gambling in the gazettes. However he has also referred to a government announcement that no new licenses will be issued and only the existing ones are able to continue operations.
As the Daily FT headline“Confusion, chaos over casinos” stated, there is chaos and confusion over plans by the three companies to establish casinos in their projects. Australian businessman James Packer clearly explained in his presentation at last month’s Commonwealth Business Forum that the Sri Lanka project is mainly aimed at attracting high rollers from India and the Middle East to the casino.
Government ministers and deputies claim that the authorities are transparent but leave many questions unanswered. In this context what is the public expected to believe when the Government says these mixed development projects will not have casinos prompting the JHU to welcome the projects without casinos. James Packer/Ravi Wijeratne, Dhammika Perera and JKH have all confirmed plans to locate casinos in their projects. So, will there be casinos or not in these projects?
The casino debate has taken many twists and turns. On one side, a few casinos have operated for many years in the country, mainly in Colombo and then there is a hue and a cry over the emergence of a new breed of casinos. At one point the Government said a special gaming zone would be located at D.R. Wijewardena Mawatha where existing casinos have to be relocated. It was then stated that this refers to the operation of casinos only and not projects that include casinos in a reference to the three projects that were gazetted this week. A BT-RCB poll last week said that a majority of the respondents was not in favour of casinos. The main objection was concern about the proliferation of anti-social activities and whether the regulatory mechanism was strong enough to tackle these issues. The poll reflected the two schools of thought: one side saying that while such development is necessary to attract high spending tourists, there should be proper regulation while the second group said it should not be allowed at all for moral reasons.
Unclear and ad-hoc statements by Government politicians add fuel to the public view that the regulatory mechanism is likely to be manipulated to suit some people.
Be that as it may, the Government needs to come clean and explain clearly whether these projects would allow casinos under already existing licenses or the approval system. Current ways used by the Government of defusing the debate over casinos has left more room for suspicion that something fishy is going on in the ‘land like no other’.
Another issue of transparency relates to the process of public comment under the Strategic Development Projects Act No. 14 of 2008. Investment Promotion Ministry Secretary M.M.C. Ferdinando has said that the law provides for public representation, if any, to be made within a 30-day period when the first gazette is published listing a project that has applied for special development status. He has also said the public is unaware about this provision and there is a need for public awareness.
Section 3.3 of this law says that “on the expiration of a period of thirty days from the date of the notification published under sub section (2), the minister in charge of investment” shall inform the cabinet of ministers.
However is the public aware of this clause or is it indifferent and resigned to the fact that any representation won’t make a difference in the entire process? Under the process, two gazettes must be issued by law. In the ‘first’ gazettes dated July 18 issued on two projects – Lake Leisure and Waterfront Properties – there was reference to gaming activities. Subsequently the ‘second’ gazette issued in September was withdrawn due to the furore and subsequently revoked. The re-issued, ‘first’ gazette now dated December 17 gazette has no reference to gaming activities.
This week’s gazette provides a 30 day period for the public to make written representations with the period ending on January 17, 2013, and hopefully this clause would be made use of even now.
Yet with the new gazette having no reference to ‘gaming’, the prospect of few public comments or none at all, is most likely.
It is important however for the public to make use of this provision and express their views on an issue of public importance.