Complain and comply

The city of Colombo is the happening place in the country. This is where big business operates, government offices function and all the decisions that decide the country’s future are made in this city – apart from Parliament. President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s three operational locations – Temple Trees, the President’s House and the Presidential Secretariat – are located here. The Treasury gurus who chart the future of this country in terms of development and how much money can be spent sit right here.

All the five star hotels and Sri Lanka’s showpiece twin towers – The World Trade Centre (WTC) – is also right in the heart of the city. Big business like the WTC is located here for a reason – it’s the best address in town and close to where all the action takes place in. Then there are the banks. The Chamber of Commerce, the most powerful organised business grouping is sand-witched between Temple Trees and Army headquarters and getting there is very inconvenient. That’s not a secret.

The WTC is touted here and overseas as the place to be but in recent times this showpiece of Sri Lankan business is going through hard times. So is business in Fort and the rest of the city stretching across from Fort to Kollupitiya. It’s all to do with the new security blanket that has enveloped the city with the prime focus being on protecting the President, Ministers, armed forces commanders and their headquarters and vital government offices.

Security in the city of Colombo is paramount and that’s not a debatable issue but shouldn’t businesses be allowed to freely operate? This week the Deli Market, a happening place in the WTC, announced shorter operational times because of the difficulties for customers to patronise this popular restaurant at night attributing it to security.

The areas mentioned earlier resemble a war zone and not the best place to do business. Who would want to be searched, questioned and sometimes harassed if all they want is a quiet and pleasant evening at a restaurant or hotel in the high security zone? The worry about keeping appointments is growing because no one knows when the roads would close for anything between 20 minutes to an hour if a political bigwig is travelling. No one is even allowed to walk on the street during such times.

The other day, a couple after a hard days work drove to the Ceylon Continental at 9.30 pm to attend a cocktail for which they had been invited. But both entrances to the hotel were blocked by police vehicles (what a way to promote tourism!) and when hey stopped to inquire a boorish police officer shouted “move, move – get out”. The woman showed the invitation and the arrogant or probably-on-edge officer shouted – “go and park near the Regal”. The couple, too tired and angry at the attitude of the police, simply didn’t bother. They went home.

Another example of how not to attract business is the road front of the WTC which is a very unpleasant sight of concrete blocks. What impression does it give to a foreign visitor? On the other hand most tenants in the WTC and Fort, in particular, are complaining and grumbling about the inconvenience and loss of business but – like the Chamber of Commerce bigwigs – what have they done about it?
The chamber and other business institutions represent a powerful segment of Sri Lankan society and they must ask the government to come up with a mechanism where business doesn’t suffer while security is also maintained. After all it’s only if business prospers that the Treasury gets its tax revenue and wars can be fought on money that – ideally should be spent on development. The city’s business community must get this point across.

It’s some consolation that the President abandoned the plan to acquire properties in and around the President’s House. That would have been disastrous to business. But a major disaster is in the offing if the chamber – which represents many of the businesses that are affected by the security measures and sudden traffic stoppages – doesn’t step out of its ivory towers and discuss with the security authorities ways to do minimize the inconvenience.

Business and the chambers must launch an interests’ group and together with security authorities set up a committee that would look at all these issues and devise a plan which would serve the interests of all. Business must be permitted to function without hindrance in the city. It is the duty of the chambers and the powerful but meek business community to make this happen – otherwise they too would be part of the all too familiar ‘complain and comply” society.