Great opportunity to develop motherland

The private sector in the country should play a dominant role in the development of the Northern and the Eastern provinces that were battered by thirty years of war but it should be initiated by the people in the area as they will know what is best for them, said the Immediate Past President, Federation of Commerce and Industry Sri Lanka (FCCISL) and National Director, United Nations Development Organisation (UNIDO) Nawaz Rajabdeen.

Nawaz Rajabdeen

He said that FCCISL has established regional chambers in Ampara, Jaffna, Batticaloa, Killinochchi, Trincomalee, Mullaitivu and Mannar. These people will know what raw materials are available and what support is needed. ‘But in my opinion we cannot start large projects; we have to start small and expand’.

He said that the name of President Mahinda Rajapaksa will be written in letters of gold as the person who had the courage to eliminate terrorism from Sri Lanka.

Now the difficult part has been done by the forces but that is not sufficient as the area should be developed so that the people of the area will benefit.

The government has many more challenges such as settling the IDPs and developing the infrastructure, but they have a master plan.

Most importantly there is sufficient manpower in the area and they are all hard working.

Rajabdeen said that there is tremendous potential to develop small and micro industries as well as tourism projects.

The people in the area should start the development work and the FCCISL will coordinate with the regional chambers in the North and the East so that they are in a position to tell what is available and what support is needed.The private sector should play a dominant role and also encourage the diaspora to come and invest. Rajabdeen said that there is tremendous potential in the area for agriculture and animal husbandry.

He said that at present there is no opportunity to do large projects therefore projects have to be started small and expanded in the future. He said that this is a great opportunity and we should all get together to develop our motherland.

UNIDO program under the Ministry of Industrial Development has allocated Rs. 100 million to purchase post harvest machinery in the Eastern Province and Rs. 50 million in the Northern Province.