The need to jump-start into the next stage:

Will the Port City boost our GDP?

by Michael Soris

The accusations and negativity directed at the Colombo Port City seem to be stuck in a groove - like a saying from the past or a broken record. But a matter for concern is the fact that nobody is even attempting to stop it.

Before this writer gets into the nitty gritty of the port city story, it would be necessary to declare, this is not going to be an objective article. It is more likely that it would be considered subjective by the reader. But then again, there has not been much objectivity in the reporting or discussing of the Port City project by the media at large. One could go so far as to say that China bashing has actually become par for the course. The writer is not about to discuss the pros and cons of the China negativity but is attempting to take a closer look at the Port City project, for its positive aspects.

To all intents and purposes, the green light for the project to recommence, is still between a 'yes' and a 'no'. Yes, the government is said to have given their final ok, but No, work has not commenced because there still seems to be some issues to be ironed out.

The primary bone of contention for the government i.e. the question of freehold land has been settled, as it has now been made clear that all the reclaimed land will be on a 99-year lease; and there would be no F1 track or golf course. Sources say, there was no golf course or F1 track at any point, in the blue print. So where did it all come from? The source for that bit of information getting into the media remains a mystery, but everything else, like the heated debates and protests about them are all too real.

Just like some of these fictitious stories, there is another that has surfaced after the floods that happened recently due to bad weather. Now, the Port City is blamed for the landslides that occurred in several parts of the country and, as rumour has it, all of it is connected to the granite that is to be mined. The accusation this time is that there was no proper Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) done for such mining. At this stage, it is interesting to note that these accusations come from a certain section of the scientific community. Their concerns have to be appreciated, if it is for the greater good of the country; but in this case and probably in most cases it is better to look at the big picture. An EIA is required for a granite mining quarry to operate in Sri Lanka and according to Port City, they have gone public saying that their granite requirements would only be purchased from legally operating quarries.

Most of these mind-boggling questions posed by Port City bashers seem to have very simple answers, if only they take the trouble to listen and read. It's clear that most of them are making these accusations after just dipping their beaks into the latest SEIA instead of going in deep. Yes, one has to agree it is a large document and makes tedious reading, but if accusations are to be made, then one has to read the fine print, but unfortunately, since these accusations are being made in the newspapers it is easy to frame stories that make the good appear bad and the beautiful appear ugly.

The latest EIA of the Port City, which is called the supplementary EIA (SEIA), is subject to the laws of the country and has gone through a process, which included a public viewing. This gave the public an opportunity to petition responsible agencies in the government to bring out their fears and protests. This writer understands that every single petition was taken up and evaluated and due to this, strong decisions were made, e.g. the dredging of sand in the ocean was moved to five kilometres away from the shore. It is the area called Site 2 in the SEIA - initially dredging was to be done 2 kilometres from the shore. According to NARA research, families have been identified as those who would be impacted by this project and relevant compensation has been set aside.

In a Utopian world, anything we do will not have an impact; but unfortunately, Utopia is just fairy land; it simply does not exist. The very fact that we breathe has an impact on our environment; therefore, we need to look at projects not from the viewpoint of whether they will have an impact or not, but rather weigh them against what benefits they would bring us and what cost we would have to bear, in order to reap those benefits. Our main focus is to see whether the pros will far outweigh the cons.

The flaw this writer sees in all these negative newspaper articles that appear since of late, is that they do not even try to weigh the pros and cons; instead it's just a one sided tirade; which brings me to my initial point of it being highly subjective. And, if there is anything that is subjective one has to examine the agenda, whether it's hidden or not and judge as to the validity of the arguments presented.

The megapolis is a great idea and I say this unashamedly because most of us think that ideas that come from politicians are not really good ones. But, this time around, this megapolis plan is working on a tried and tested formula i.e. 'the growth of nations is closely connected to the growth of major cities. It is the GDPs of leading cities that drive the growth of the national GDPs'. Philip and Milton Cotler who wrote a book on how businesses invest in the world,s high growth cities, say "Major cities are the source of a nation's wealth, not the other way around. In the markets of a nation's major cities, investment, trade and consumption takes place. Yet, development economists have spent the last 70 years focussing on nation building and national economic growth and not city growth."

Sri Lanka needs something to jump start us into the next stage. Unfortunately, we don't have the financial resources to get us there. The Port City therefore, will be the catalyst for the mega city, and would certainly kick start this massive development project in the Western Province!