• Amid protests VIP complex moves ahead
• UNP chief also calls Vajpayee
• AirLanka-Emirates deal stalled before take-off
• Ronnie breaks truce
• Enter Sunethra for PC polls

Amid protests VIP complex moves ahead

Hundreds of families may face eviction

By Chamintha Thilakarathna

After an earlier project was aborted amidst widespread criticism and controversy, the government has now decided to build the controversial multi-million rupee Presidential complex in a new location in the Kotte area — but that too has run into strong protest from hundreds of families who may be directly affected.

The Sunday Times learns the government has now earmarked about 100 acres in the Madiwela, Kotte area for a presidential complex including a secretariat, and two massive security posts.

The Urban Development Authority's Vice Chairman W. Dixon confirmed to The Sunday Times they were going ahead with the project for the Presidential complex at Madiwela for which surveys are now being conducted.

Another UDA official Nihal Fernando who is directly handling the project told The Sunday Times the UDA would build the Presidential complex on some 100 acres belonging to the Authority — but residents hotly challenged that claim. They said only some 14 acres on the proposed site belonged to the UDA while the rest would be plundered from residents and some of them are planning to stay on and resist or go to court.

Plans for the Madiwela presidential complex include a diversion of the Japanese Friendship road to widen the Diyawanna lake.

The Secretariat building and President's residence have been allocated 5 acres each while the two Defence establishments will have three acres each, The Sunday Times learns.

At least 700 families in Madiwela, Kotte will be displaced, a massive increase from the 30 families which went to courts and won their battle when the government earlier tried to set up this presidential complex in Battaramulla. In addition to the 700 families directly affected thousands of others are likely to be affected indirectly and may need to be relocated.

Project officer Fernando said preliminary work had already started and claimed it would not be declared a high security zone as there was security already provided for the parliamentary complex. But residents are challenging his claim and say security considerations are determined by the Defence Ministry and not by Mr. Fernando.

In environmental terms, the Madiwela project is likely to have adverse effects on a bird sanctuary and on the flood retention scheme around the Diyawanna Oya.

The MPs hostel at Madiwela is also likely to be shifted. One MP told The Sunday Times they had been told to leave but no reason was given.

The earlier Battaramulla project was estimated to cost a staggering Rs. 1,500 million.

Though an estimate for the Madiwela project is not immediately available, the cost could be similar or more. (Angry residents say they won't go — see page 2)

UNP chief also calls Vajpayee

Opposition UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has telephoned newly elected Indian Government leaders to exchange notes and pleasantries.

The calls to Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and BJP President L.K. Advani made on Mr. Wickremesinghe's birthday, (March 24) revolved around bilateral issues. Mr. Wickremesinghe had told the Indian leaders that he intended visiting the subcontinent sometime soon for a personal chat. Mr. Wickremesinghe had first met Mr. Vajpayee way back in 1975 at Colombo's Galle Face Hotel.

The Opposition Leader's call comes in the wake of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar's visit to New Delhi last week which Mr. Wickremesinghe welcomed as a positive approach by Sri Lanka.

At a news conference earlier last Monday Mr. Wickremesinghe said the UNP has "No misgivings whatsoever" about the new BJP led Indian government and praised the Sri Lankan government for its diplomatic initiative in losing no time in opening a dialogue with the new Indian leaders.

He said it was a "Very good thing" that Mr. Kadirgamar had been the first to visit the New Delhi leaders and brief them on the Sri Lankan situation.

Mr. Kadirgamar's talks with the Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee, Home Minister Advani, Power Minister R. Kumaramangalam, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister I.K. Gujral revolved around Sri Lanka's internal conflict.

All these Indian leaders had pledged their commitment to a United Sri Lanka.

AirLanka-Emirates deal stalled before take-off

By Frederica Jansz

The controversial AirLanka-Emirates partnership deal which was scheduled to be signed today has been put off at the last minute apparently due to a legal problem, The Sunday Times learnt last night.

Emirates officials told The Sunday Times the finalization of the partnership "is temporarily on hold," meaning that the signing ceremony scheduled for 10. a.m. today at Temple Trees is put off. The postponement came amidst reports that Peaceair Chairman Gamini Wethasinghe intends filing a fundamental rights case against the Public Enterprises Reform Commission (PERC) which negotiated the deal with Emirates.

Peaceair recently increased its bid from US$ 85 million to US$141 million for 40% equity shares of AirLanka while the Emirates offer is said to be around US$70 million. Peaceair however was not listed as one of the highest bidders for AirLanka.

An angry Mr. Wethasinghe told The Sunday Times last night he intended getting a stay order issued on the partnership between Emirates Airlines and AirLanka.

Mr. Wethasinghe accused PERC of selling out not only AirLanka but also the entire aviation industry of Sri Lanka.

He alleged that PERC had written to Aviation Minister Dharmasiri Senanayake, requesting that the Director General of Civil Aviation should not issue traffic rights to other licensed carriers. Mr. Wethasinghe said the agreement between AirLanka and Emirates Airlines allegedly gave Emirates full traffic rights to all countries which had signed bilateral agreements with Sri Lanka.

The controversial deal between AirLanka and Emirates Airlines has been approved by the cabinet despite continuing allegations that the 40% equity shares of Sri Lanka's national carrier had been undervalued for sale by around US$ 30 million.

The Sunday Times learns that Emirates Airlines will not pay more than US$ 70 million for the 40 percent stake in AirLanka. According to Emirates officials, an international US-based consultancy firm, S H and E, has reportedly valued 40% of AirLanka at between US$ 50 and 72 million though a government valuation had placed the figure at US$ 84 to 104 million.

An Emirates official said the government valuation was "highly exaggerated." He claimed AirLanka could not be placed at a high value because of its considerable debt structure.

A senior management official at AirLanka said they had been kept in the dark on the sale and partnership deal with Emirates Airlines. They said the Public Enterprises Reform Commission (PERC) which negotiated the deal with Emirates had not discussed the deal with them or even told them anything. They were even unaware of how and when the US consultancy firm carried out a valuation of AirLanka.

Emirates' Chief Executive Officer Tim Clark — a key figure in the negotiations — told The Sunday Times in an interview last week, the deal with AirLanka was not a sell out.

Mr. Clark said Emirates was aware of the debt structure of AirLanka but was prepared, by and large, to take this on board.

However, The Sunday Times learns the debt structure of the national carrier was largely due to the regular purchase of aircraft but during the past two years AirLanka had begun to show operational profits.

Ronnie breaks truce

Though UNP frontliners Ronnie de Mel and Anura Bandaranaike have called a truce in their war of words over land deals and political somersaults, Mr. de Mel on Friday again quoted from the Hansard regarding Bandaranaike land deals.

Addressing a meeting in Kegalle, Mr. de Mel charged it was the Bandaranaike family that was involved in illegal land deals and not "Ronnie, Ranil or the Wijewardenes."

Mr. Bandaranaike was on the same platform, some 15 seats away, but he did not reply to the charge as he had done twice previously this week. Mr. de Mel left the meeting as soon as he finished the speech and Mr. Bandaranaike occupied his chair.

Enter Sunethra for PC polls

The Bandaranaike elder daughter Sunethra said yesterday she would seriously consider entering mainstream politics again if an offer was made to her — amidst speculation that the Chandrika Kumaratunga Government would call on her to be the PA's western province chief ministerial candidate in the upcoming provincial council elections.

Ms. Bandaranaike, had earlier been at odds with her younger sister President Chandrika Kumaratunga but in recent months they are reported to have patched up the differences. She told The Sunday Times if the PA officially invited her to contest the provincial council elections, she would weigh all the pros and cons and make a careful decision.

"If the PA finds me suitable, then yes. I will seriously consider re-entering mainstream politics. At this stage in my life I will not make any hasty decisions. But if there is a real need for me to fulfil in the public arena, I will certainly not hesitate to do so. The decision will be a mature one and not just for me to make my maiden speech in parliament," the 55-year-old Ms. Bandaranaike said.

"Politics is nothing strange to my family. It is something we, the Bandaranaikes, are all comfortable with," she added.

Sunethra Bandaranaike was a prominent and powerful political activist with the radical left-wing Janavegaya movement which acted as pressure group during the Sirima Bandaranaike regime from 1970 to 1977. The movement was led by her then husband Kumar Rupesinghe.

For the past few years, Sunethra Bandaranaike had faded from the political scene while her brother and younger sister continued in the 'family business'.

Her younger sister Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga cut her teeth in political office by being Chief Minister of the Western Province.

Her brother Anura Bandaranaike had indicated his willingness to contest the Western Province Chief Ministership later this year from the Opposition UNP, but that choice seems to have gone to incumbent Colombo Mayor Karu Jayasuriya.

Meanwhile, Mr. Bandaranaike confirmed that he was offered the Prime Ministership by President Ranasinghe Premadasa in early 1993 at the time he had been suspended from the SLFP.

Asked by The Sunday Times what Sajith Premadasa, UNP's Hambantota organiser and son of late President Ranasinghe Premadasa referred to when he said in a recent statement that "Mr. Bandaranaike once turned down an offer made by his father to take up a very important position in the country," Mr. Bandaranaike said it was the premiership.

Mr. Dingiri Banda Wijetunge was the Prime Minister at the time. On May 1 the same year President Premadasa was assassinated and the Prime Minister became the President.