|
|
 |
 |
| Sunday, 4 July 2004 |
 |
|
 |
Politics |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Country lacks mega projects for development - Ferial by Elmo Leonard Sri Lanka lacks mega projects to take the country forward, rather, she is beset with ad hoc schemes in every discipline, including housing and construction, Minister of Housing and Construction, Mrs. Ferial Ashraff said last week. Her ministry, comprising of Housing Construction Industry, Eastern Province Education and Irrigation Development, in its first programme since the advent of the UPFA government, formulated two think tanks, one for housing and the other for construction. These think tanks consist of professionals and intellectuals in both disciplines. The purpose of the two think tanks is for formulating and developing policies on housing and construction and streamlining its development through the government. Minister Ashraff said that as far as she could remember, the elite of the country were arm chair critics of politics and politicians. However, Sri Lanka did not gain from such criticism. On the other hand, Sri Lanka's neighbours had forged ahead, while the island nation lagged behind. A case in point was Singapore, who in past decades, wanted to emulate Sri Lanka. Something had gone wrong, Singapore being far ahead of Sri Lanka, Minister Ashraff said. Some people said that the ethnic problem in the country was a stumbling block to the progress of the country. But, that was not all, Minister Ashraff said. The problems in the country was growing like a monster, day by day. The think tanks were set up, so that qualified and competent people would accept plans and formulations for change and see to their implementation. Coming into politics from being a housewife and taking up a post as minister, she realised that the role of the ministry was not to have a policy of any sorts, she said. Former President R. Premadasa had a vision to build houses, in particular. With his death, that vision came to an end, as there was nothing on paper, Minister Ashraff said. Every change of government brought about setbacks and retarded the progress of the country. The think tanks were created to draw up a policy paper which must be followed by governments, irrespective of changes which would take place. The same formulation must be adopted for all other disciplines, Minister Ashraff said. In the construction industry, the State Engineering Corporation was sick, the National Housing Authority was only a bit better. Her ministry was willing to take the advice of professionals and other competent people in the disciplines of housing and construction. Governments would come and go but the nation must go on, she said. Minister of Ports and Aviation, Information and Media and Deputy Minister of Education, commended Mrs Ashraff for setting up two think tanks for solving the burning problems of the country. The People's Alliance government had plans to solve some of the pressing problems of the country in housing and construction, but went out of office for two years, the Minister said. In housing, one of the burning problems Colombo faced was that half of its inhabitants lived in shanties and slums. The PA government's plans for building 100,000 houses and Stage II of the Beira Lake, in Colombo were shelved. Minister Samaraweera was confident that the think tanks in question would find sustainable solutions to ease the housing problems faced by the urban poor of Colombo. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
