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Govt. plays name game to present wolves in sheep’s clothing
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The Government may have had its way by getting Parliamentary approval for three regulations made under the Strategic Development Projects Act, which the Opposition claims gives an open licence for foreign owned casinos to operate in the country, but despite the victory, the first signs of dissension within the ruling Alliance surfaced during the vote in the House to grant tax concessions for these controversial projects.
On Thursday, when the first of the three regulations were taken up for a vote, it was a sole JHU MP on the Government side, Ven. Aturaliye Ratana Thera, who voted against it, along with members of the UNP, the DNA and the TNA. On Friday, when the vote was taken on the other two regulations, Ven. Ratana Thera was joined by another JHU member, Minister Champika Ranawaka, in opposing them.
On both days, several Government ministers including Justice Minister Rauff Hakeem, along with other members of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), as well as Ministers Wimal Weerawansa, Rishad Bathuideen and A.L.M. Athaullah did not show up at voting time.Of course, being denied a few votes did not make much of a difference to the final outcome, given the over two-thirds majority the SLFP led United People Freedom Alliance (UPFA) enjoys in Parliament, but one thing was clear, that, despite the likes of Investment Promotion Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena who introduced the three regulations, and Government heavyweight, Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa going overboard to convince the House that none of these projects include casinos, they had clearly failed to convince even many on their side that this was, in fact, the case.
Like most Opposition MPs alleged, the regulations are clearly meant to covertly allow casinos and related facilities to operate within the resorts–all three of which have been termed as “Integrated Super Luxury Tourist Resorts“ which would include high-end shopping malls and high quality residencies and office spaces/ service spaces with associated facilities.The catchphrase which the Government failed to define more precisely was “associated facilities,’ which Opposition legislators said was an open licence, not only for casinos, but also for other vices to operate within the confines of these projects.
On Thursday the UNP held a protest at the site of the proposed Crown Casino project. Pic by Indika Handuwala
“The Government cannot hoodwink the people by saying that no casinos will operate within the premises of these resorts. If that is the case, the regulations should have categorically said so,” said JVP MP Anura Dissanayaka. Mr. Dissanayake was one of the most vociferous critics of the regulations, accusing the “deal makers” with access to the raja medurua (king’s palace) of being behind the three projects. “The Ministers in this Government have no say in this regard. The deals have been made in the raja medura, and are executed by the deal makers,” he said.
Several Opposition MPs including UNP MP Joseph Michael Perera, also questioned how a Ministry Secretary was the operator of one of the projects named Queensbury Leisure Ltd, which will set up one of the resorts on D.R. Wijewardene Mawatha, Colombo.“Dhammika Perera who is the Secretary to the Transport Ministry, is operating this project. How is it possible that a public official is able to do this?” he questioned.
Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena defended the projects, saying they would provide employment opportunities for many Sri Lankans, and help in the development of the country. “There will be no casinos as the Opposition says. They see a bogeyman in everything the Government does,” he said.
However, despite assurances that casinos would not be part of the projects, repeated calls to the Government to table the agreements signed between the Board of Investment (BOI) and the project companies, failed to yield any response.
This in itself left open the question of how honest the Government has been with the people of the country and Parliament, on what exactly these “Super Luxury Resorts” would entail, and if they would really benefit the people or, are just for the benefit of a handful of its henchmen.