Finally the new scheme pertaining to visas for foreign travellers gets underway in January, it was officially announced on Friday ending a near 18-month uncertainty over this new scheme.

The travel industry had earlier raised strong concerns over the scheme saying Sri Lanka needs to ‘get out of the woods’ and start marketing the country as a ‘new destination’ in the post-war period instead of bringing in new, cumbersome procedures which could turn away visitors. But the government has said the scheme was to just simplify the process although the real reason appeared to be to raise money for depleted government coffers and a way to screen visitors to the country.

The cash bonanza was emphasised, emphatically and enthusiastically by Immigration and Emmigration Director-General Chulananda Perera at a media briefing this week where he said revenues could go up in the ratio of 2.5 million visitors x $50 (per traveller) by 2016 which works out to more than $125 million annually – a sizable addition to state income.

According to the scheme, a processing fee would be applied to all travellers of $50 for short, 30-day stays while transit passengers are also required to apply for a visa and pay a $25 processing fee, a new rule.

Contrary to earlier reports that the ages-old, visa-on arrival scheme which applies to most western travellers/tourists (some 80 countries), would be discontinued with the visa on line scheme, both schemes will run parallel.

But questions abound about the new scheme though there is three months to sort out the confusion and for the trade to seek clarification before it becomes effective in January.

Read the full column in our print edition here

Most motorists driving around in Colombo consider trucks to be too slow, buses too aggressive and trains to get in their way.

 It seems that we all forget that these same vehicles bring thousands of people and material that may in fact be the reason we even have a job in the city to which we can drive.
Colombo has a resident population of 600,000 people, but just under a million people enter and leave the city daily for work, business, education, shopping, entertainment and recreation. Of these people, approximately 54 % arrive by bus, while 12 % arrives by train. The buses carry 450,000 people in a fleet of around 6,000 buses, while it takes around 225,000 private vehicles to bring the balance 350,000 people.

Everyone yearns to arrive to work by car as that alone signifies comfortable travel today in Colombo. But that would mean the need for a million vehicles to enter the city. That is three times of what it is today. Alternately, we must have more people reside within Colombo making it a compact city, where people can walk or cycle to work and school. Not addressing the city’s travel needs will restrict the supply of people to the centre of the city, as it did in the 1990s, which led to a wave of migration of businesses to Maharagama, Kiribathgoda, Nawala, etc. This is a first step of the failure in structural form in a city, precipitated by the collapse of an inaccessible centre. As businesses move out in an unplanned manner, the roadside activity levels also increase making roads even slower, thus further reducing the number of commuters willing to travel to Colombo.

Thus in a city like Colombo where road transport access is limited, buses and trains spell sustainability while private vehicles bring issues of pollution, congestion, accidents, noise and parking along with them. While many city administrators in the past have spoken of car parks, street widening and traffic signals, none has come close to demonstrating and understanding the dependence the city has on public transport. The equation is very clear; more cars arriving in the city, means arrival of less people!! So for the next mayor of Colombo it is a choice between attracting more people or more vehicles to the city!!

This will require bold decisions as the city has had no interest to develop public transport in the past. The Colombo Municipality (CMC) has by and large rescinded this to the national and provincial authorities. However, the once popular bus terminals such as Fort, Lotus Road, Torrington, Town Hall, Slave Island, Clock Tower that the CMC could have preserved have all been ‘terminated’ in order to give way for private vehicular traffic. The main bus terminals in Colombo has got overloaded and remain largely an under developed national embarrassment to a country aspiring to be an international transport hub! Bus stops too have moved entirely at the whims and fancies of those interested only in making cars travel faster. Inter modal connections between rail and bus such as at Bambalapitiya and Kollupitiya have been severed effectively by the new one-way system. All of this happens, while the CMC and its Mayors have stood by without raising a single protest or concern for its primary transport systems or their users.

Read the Full Column here

The negative vitriol emanating from the global political leadership is having consequences in the most unexpected places.

The anaemic growth rates of most of the older developed economies of the world, coupled with negative investor sentiment have put a dampener on white collar wage growth in many countries. This is becoming a thorny political issue in countries that have a skilled, or points-based immigration program.

With the current muddle through economy set to last at least another two years, would-be migrants are facing some of the hardest questions not faced by their peers for at least the last two decades. A closer look at the key economies that attract skilled migrants points to some opportunities, but on a balance of probabilities, the outlook has muddied more than last year.

While wholesale statements about countries and sectors are an oversimplification of a complex matter, the broader outlook portends some risks potential migrants would benefit by considering in their analysis. A country-based analysis reveals interesting discrepancies.

Read the full column here

In the 19th century, railways led the economic development throughout the world, carrying commuters to cities that were to become industrial and commercial centres and goods from far flung provinces to develop export crops and resource exploration. The expansion of tea cultivation and the formation of Colombo as a metropolis were its noteworthy contributions to Sri Lanka. However, just as the train ended the dominance of water transport, the popularity of motorized road transport since World War II has sidelined railways the world over. In fact in Sri Lanka the railways is down to carry just 2% of freight and 5% of passenger traffic. So sadly, the train in Sri Lanka is on the list of endangered species.
 
The reason for this is that the railway is no longer attractive to the majority of the people. The crowded trains one sees around Colombo are filled mostly with government workers who pay just 15 % of the fare. The fare itself is around 40-50% of what it actually costs the railway.  These commuters are therefore captive as they only pay 7-8% of the actual cost. There are more trade unions than there are working train engines, each quite unconcerned about disrupting services for better working conditions, while the organization itself remains unable to modernize or improve its management to meet public applause. The lack of a coherent strategic plan to reform even in the future, seals its fate. Thus the possibility of the last train from Lanka, like the last tram and the last trolley bus in decades before, could be a sad reality.
 
The story of Kandy once a city relying much on the railways is a case in point.  Kandy at present attracts 360,000 people daily, of which only 1% arrives by train. This is in spite of the rail line stretching from Peradeniya to Katugastota, a distance of 10 km right through the only urban corridor in Kandy. Large numbers of buses, school vans, three wheelers and private vehicles make an otherwise idyllic city noisy, dusty and over-crowded thus threatening this World Heritage City’s requirement for visitors who come for peace, tranquility and an ambience for reverence. However Kandy has a dualistic role to play as the provincial capital, in providing access to jobs, schools, services and businesses for its local populace. Hence the need to transport large numbers of people daily.
 
The topography of the city, that is nestled between the river and the mountains, makes the railway an alternative to the ever increasing road transport and congestion. But it needs to introduce modern technology, provide quality and reliable service that can attract van and car passengers. It needs to make the stations hospitable, build safe and easy access paths to the hospital, the bus terminals, the kachcheri, the market and the many major schools that are all within walking distance from the rail line. It needs to introduce IT based customer services and ticketing. But will the railways be willing and indeed be allowed and encouraged to take up this challenge? Will it be able to break free of the comfort of treasury support, political and administrative shackles and be allowed to re-modernize and become commercialized? However, my most shocking discovery in Kandy was to learn the proposal that a key administrator was pushing, to close down the track between Kandy and Katugastota so that it could be used to build a road! What insanity in high places! 
 

Read the full column here