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| Sunday, 30 January 2005 |
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Foreign aid absorption inadequate by Hiran H.Senewiratne Foreign aid absorption in Sri Lanka is not at a satisfactory level compared to other developing nations. It is less than 20 per cent, Director Institute of Policy Studies, Dr Saman Kelagama said. He said that at present many international donor agencies have pledged a lot of assistance to the country for reconstruction and rehabilitation activities following the tsunami disaster, which needs to be managed properly. "It is the need of the hour to monitor all aid that come into the country to ensure transparency. This is because it is highly vulnerable for misuse," Dr Kelagama said at a forum organised by the Sri Lanka-Italy Business Council affiliated to the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.The theme of the forum was the "Impact of the tsunami on Business and Economy; Strategies for rebuilding the Nation". He said that these funds should be utilised for all reconstruction and rehabilitation activities in a proper way to recover from this impact within the next three years. In certain countries especially Afghanistan and Iraq foreign grants promised by donor agencies never received the full amount , Dr Kelagama said. He said that foreign grants promised to Sri Lanka by donor countries in the aftermath of the tsunami disaster was more than US$ 3 billion and those funds will be released on conditional basis by them. Dr Kelagama said that, provided the entire aid package is received by the country a lot of construction activities would take place. "If local suppliers are unable to cater to the demand with the increase of the economic activities, it would not be able to drive the economy forward," he added. However, the appreciation of exchange rate would also result in un-competitiveness in the export sector, which would impact on the economy negatively in the long run, he added. Reconstruction and rehabilitation work should go hand in hand, therefore having a proper data base by the authorities is a timely need. This would enable to manage funds in an effective and efficient way, he added. He said that once the economic activities commence in affected areas, the government should give priority for employment creation because 50 per cent of the people have lost their livelihood. President-Tourist Hotels Association Sri Lanka Malin Hapugoda said that most hotels in the coastal belt have been affected. He said that 80 per cent of them will commence operations by March and the balance will take sometime to resume operations . He said that tourist arrivals for this year will drop considerably due to this disaster as the peak of the tourist season is from December to March. Hapugoda said that Maldives and Thailand did not allow the media to highlight the destruction caused by the tsunami like Sri Lanka did.Therefore the time is ripe to promote Sri Lanka before the world that it had affected only the coastal line and not the whole country to promote tourism in the on going season. Export Development Board (EDB) Chairman Rohantha Athukorala said that all over the world Sri Lanka was featured in the prime times and this could be used as an opportunity to promote Sri Lankan brands globally. He said that EDB's regional officers are in the process of assessing the damage in affected areas to assertain the damage caused to the SME sector to help them . Real Estate Exchange (pvt) Ltd (REEL) Chairman/Managing Director Dr Krishan Deheragoda said that over 90,000 housing units were damaged while extensive damage have been caused to another 25,731 dwelling units in the coastal areas. He said that these affected families are now living in about 800 welfare camps established in religious and public places including schools.In addition to this a similar number of new housing units will be required to relocate families, who are still living within the coastal reservation. One of the most affected single communities were the fisher folk. Approximately 80 per cent of the total coastal fishing areas have been destroyed or damaged.Nearly 32,000 housing units are urgently required for this community in 14 districts affected around the island,he said. Dr Deheragoda said that the total damage from the tsunami disaster was estimated at around US$ 4.5 billion.The country should use available international aid in a prudent way for reconstruction and rehabilitation activities to bring the situation back to normal. Senior lecture PIM Dr Tilak Fonseka said that the most important factor at this present juncture is to help the affected people to get back to normal life, without much talk on town and country planing proposals,which are long term plans. |
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