"We would like to tell investors that a dollar invested today is worth five dollars tomorrow," said Economic Reforms Minister Milinda Moragoda, one of the main drivers of the peace process on the government side along with Constitutional Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris.

The Marshall Plan, initiated by US Secretary of State George C. Marshall in 1947, was a major effort by the US to reduce the hunger, homelessness, sickness, unemployment, and political restlessness of the 270 million people in sixteen nations in West Europe. The plan costing the US more than $11 billion helped strengthen the economic superstructure of Western Europe and secured a Nobel Prize for Marshall in 1953.

"In the next few months we are putting together a kind of Marshall Plan for development not only in the north and the east - but the entire country," said Moragoda.

He said Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was keen to show the people the benefits of peace now instead of waiting till a permanent peace solution evolves.

"Last week after a trip to Jaffna, I conveyed to donors what the people were saying … Ministers come and go but nothing else happens … they say. There is unemployment that needs to tackled, there is development that has to be done," he said, saying that the government plans to urge the international community to invest now instead of waiting for the war to end.

Other government sources said that Wickremesinghe's address to the UN General Assembly on September18 (see connected story on this page) is expected to be on similar lines.

Moragoda said the ADB, World Bank and UN agencies were preparing a needs-assessment aimed at formulating a national reconstruction strategy for Sri Lanka.

Separately the government is looking for high profile personalities like US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage to champion Sri Lanka's case abroad. "We are looking at high level supporters in Britain and Europe to push our case for aid. We cannot afford development from our meagre resources. We need foreign donor aid."

"The message to the international community is - we need to be developing now and cannot wait till peace dawns," he said.

While a lot of multinationals have shown interest in investing in Sri Lanka after a ceasefire came into effect in December, many are unlikely to make a move until they are certain the government and the rebels clinch a deal through peace talks.

Just before the July 1983 bloody attacks on the Tamils, among companies and banks planning to invest in Sri Lanka were the Bank of Tokyo, Barclays, J.P. Morgan, Intel Corp, Motorola, Sony, Sanya and Matsushita Corp, according to Ronnie de Mel, former Finance Minister and architect of the country's 1977 economic reforms.

He said if not for the war, Sri Lanka would probably have been by 2000 the number one economy between the Gulf and Singapore. " Several companies wanted to use Colombo as a manufacturing base," he said.

Lankan peace in New York
When Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe steps into the UN General Assembly on September 18 and unveils his "peace and development" plan to some 100 heads of state, Sri Lanka's pro-peace business community can be proud it is a major contributor to history in the making.

Wickremesinghe's trip to New York in eight days on a high-profile trip aimed at telling the world that Sri Lanka is ready for investment is also set to trigger a networking chain among Sri Lanka's wealthy diaspora abroad geared to seeking their support towards boosting the war-torn economy - similar to NRIs (non resident Indians) helping India.

The premier's trip to New York and the peace-through-business mission were exclusively reported by this newspaper on July 14.

During the September 16-20 New York trip, the prime minister will address a press conference at the UN; meet UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan; unveil a peace and development plan to the UN General Assembly; attend a breakfast meeting with the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce organized by the BOI and the American Chamber of Commerce in Colombo; speak at a UNDP-organised investment forum for 300 Fortune 500 companies at the Waldorf Astoria; attend a dinner organized by Sri Lanka First with a selected group of high net Sri Lankans from the US and Canada, and a special lunch for top investment bankers organized by BOI and UNDP.

The Invest-in-Peace initiative is spearheaded by UNDP following an appeal made to Annan by the prime minister in around March. The first track of UNDP Technical assistance to the initiative is out-reach - inviting business leaders and their firms to "rediscover Sri Lanka" and "invest in peace."

Planned follow-up activities in the integrated outreach sequence include a series of Invest-in-Peace presentations in key regional hubs selected as promising sources for foreign investment in Sri Lanka, culminating in a Colombo Investors' Forum in around March 2003.

"The campaign's premise is that the support of the business community - domestic and, international - will be indispensable for accelerating and sustaining peace momentum. Business resources are needed to spur post-conflict recovery and reconstruction," one source, involved in organizing the events, said.

UNDP support to the peace initiative includes the services of a Special Advisor to the government, plus on-site, logistical arrangements for September's New York mission.

Superstars for Sathosa?
The Ministry of Trade and Consumer Affairs is hoping to rope in some major international super marketers to run the Sathosa chain across the country.

"We are looking at big, international players to run these supermarkets. If we open it out to Sri Lankan companies, there could be mergers … companies closing down with ultimately the consumer suffering," noted Minister Ravi Karunanayake.

The ministry is planning in coming weeks to call for tenders locally and abroad - through advertisements - to run the Sathosa chain of supermarkets. "We want to expand Sathosa's reach, increase the number of products and move from the local and middle class to upper class customers too," he told The Sunday Times in an interview.

The government since earlier this year has been revamping the services of the CWE and Sathosa outlets with private sector-led management techniques with 24-hour shopping facilities being the most recent development.

Karunanayake said he got cabinet approval two weeks back to privatize the management of the CWE (or Sathosa) in addition to selling off 40 percent of the government stake in the organization's main wholesale company which is to be broken up into five retail firms dealing with retail, wholesale and distribution.

If the ministry succeeds in bringing in international names to run the supermarket chain in addition to raising the level of customers from lower and middle-income groups, it would provide stiff competition to supermarket chains like Cargills Food City, Keells Super and Park & Shop.

The ministry is also trying to ascertain what Sathosa's traditional customers think about prices, service and quality and is undertaking a customer survey in the next few weeks. "We will have a customer survey form at all outlets for customers to provide their views on a range of issues," the minister said.

Referring to Sri Lanka relaxing visa restrictions to residents of other South Asia countries while those countries are yet to provide the same concession to Sri Lankans, the minister said Sri Lanka needed to attract people rather than chase them away.

"Just because they don't do it, are we going to wait for it to happen? Our need to get more people here to spend money is greater."

He said Pakistan however is favourably considering reciprocating Sri Lanka's gesture in allowing virtually visa-free travel to Colombo.

Karunanayake also referred to the December 6 opening of Sri Lanka's mega exhibition centre at Jawatte Road in Colombo with 100,000 sq feet of space available to display any product including textiles, books or furniture. He said the centre would be connected to the world through Internet providing information on a range of goods on display and available in Sri Lanka.

A remedy to bouncy pitches
A Sri Lankan company may have found just the remedy to a problem that has vexed cricket administrators for years - how do you make the country's top batsmen face fast bowlers like Allan Donald or Glen McGrath with confidence on bouncy pitches? With tighter cricket mattings that provide the same kind of bounce seen in Australia, the West Indies or South Africa, Waycoir (Pvt) Ltd with a factory in Chilaw is set to succeed with its new technique.

"Our mattings are tightly woven and facilitates the leather ball to skid through. It provides a better bounce for fast bowlers and helps batsmen to face the rising delivery at an early age," said Sanjay Mendis, Marketing Manager based in the company's Colombo office.

Waycoir, which produces value added products out of coir fibre for export to international markets, says its high quality cricket matting is much superior and lasts eight times longer (for two years) than traditional hand-woven cricket matting that is currently available in the market and lasts only three months.

The new cricket matting is manufactured on fully automated German power looms. "Our matting comes in one piece unlike the traditional matting mostly made in Ambalangoda which is made up of two to three pieces," Mendis said. There are more than 100 cricket grounds in Sri Lanka using matting wickers excluding the premier venues in Colombo which have turf wickets.

Junior cricket is played in matting in addition to some big school games. The matting is produced in three standard sizes for match matting, practice matting and private pitch matting. The company first introduced the new matting in 2000 for some top schools - which still use the same matting - but last year concentrated on carpeting for export. "We want start catering to the cricket market again," Mendis said.

Tax amnesty for those with undeclared wealth
Anyone with undisclosed wealth can invest their money without any questions being asked under the government tax amnesty now in force, the Commissioner General of Inland Revenue, B.T. Perera, said last week. The amnesty, which is in force till next May, was declared in the government's budget earlier this year in an effort to draw into the formal economy what is believed to be huge amounts of undeclared funds made through illegal means.

The government declared the amnesty as it is desperately short of funds. Such undeclared wealth can be invested in specified investment vehicles or projects such as housing. Perera was responding to a query about the issues raised on undeclared wealth in the wake of the recent police raid on a bank vault owned by former deputy defence minister Anuruddha Ratwatte in which Rs 43 million worth of certificates of deposit were found. "No useful purpose would be served by seizing the money by Inland Revenue because the amnesty is in force till May 31, 2003," Perera said.

Under the normal law, the Inland Revenue Department can step in and seize any money it has reason to believe is illegal, he said.

"But under the amnesty now in force they can make a declaration up to May 31, 2003 with no questions asked," he added.

"Any undeclared income up to then can be disclosed to the Inland Revenue Department under the amnesty provisions," he said.

"The amnesty law applies even to pending cases," he also said.

"If the amnesty was not there, by now Inland Revenue would have seized the money and would have collected half of in taxes and penalties," he said. In June this year, Minister of Rural Economy and Deputy Minister of Finance Bandula Gun-awardena asked trade chambers to tell their members to disclose undeclared assets and put them to productive use.
They would not have to pay taxes or penalties nor would they be asked any questions by the revenue authorities, he said.

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