JVP writes to President against Hambantota PPP

Criticising the lack of transparency in disclosing details on the Hambantota Port Public-Private Partnership agreement, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) yesterday urged President Maithripala Sirisena to reverse the decision to lease out the entity to a Chinese firm. 

Writing to the President, Committee of Public Enterprise (COPE) Chairman and JVP MP Sunil Handunnetti asked the Government to disclose details of the agreement, scheduled to be signed by 8 January, transferring majority ownership to China Merchants Port Holdings. 

Handunnetti highlighted that the Government had a moral obligation to reveal to the public the conditions under which the Port will be signed off on a 99 year lease. 

Stressing that the Port holds strategic importance, even when national security is concerned, Handunnetti likened the Government’s reluctance to share information about the deal to “the secret and illegal deals of the Rajapaksa regime, which the current Government spoke up against.”

 “One of your main election slogans of this Government was to ensure transparency and corruption-free governance. But people and Parliament are unaware of the agreement to hand over the Hambantota Port with less than two weeks to do so.

 We do not know why these secret transactions were not considered as deals,” Handunnetti wrote in his correspondence. 

However, he also stressed that the agreement will not be legitimised through just presenting the details to Parliament, adding that the current leaders are responsible for future generations as well.