UNP blasts Govt. rejection of Karu’s move to amend Strategic Development Act

Thursday, 24 July 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

A private member bill to amend the Strategic Development Projects Act No. 14 of 2008 presented by opposition lawmaker Karu Jayasuriya was rejected by the Government at yesterday’s sessions in Parliament.

Karu Jayasuriya

The bill was aimed at preventing the Parliament from approving any project which would include the operation of casinos and other gaming activities by whatever name or description or the leasing out of space for such activities. At a special media conference held in the Parliament complex, MP Jayasuriya stated that the Government’s opposition proves the controversial integrated super luxury tourist resorts with hundreds of rooms including high-end shopping malls, high quality residencies and office spaces/service spaces down D.R. Wijewardena Mawatha, Colombo 10 and the other facility at Justice Akbar Mawatha are nothing more than casinos. “All this time the Government was stressing that casinos are not included in any of the strategic development projects. My bill was to ensure that casinos are excluded. But with the Government rejecting the bill, it proves that casinos are included and the public was taken for a ride,” said MP Jayasuriya. According to UNP MP Dr. Harsha de Silva, the Government stand exposed and will not be allowed to continue misleading the public. “Initially the Government tried to hide the casino factor. But the other political parties, the stakeholders of the Government, held that it should not be included. So the words were changed and verbal assurance was given. Rejecting today’s bill shows that casinos are included in these planned resorts. The land given to both casinos are held by UDA and the Ports Authority. Ultimately, this makes the respective casinos Government-held businesses,” MP de Silva said.

Harsha tells P’ment Mattala Airport is a failure

Dr. Harsha de Silva

Opposition Lawmaker Dr. Harsha de Silva yesterday charged in Parliament that both Mihin Lanka as well as the controversial Mattala Mahinda Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) are failures. He said that the Government invested over $ 300 million on MRIA but income during the past six months was Rs. 150,779 and this was mainly from Mihin. According to Minister of Civil Aviation Piyankara Jayaratne, MRIA received Rs. 16,185 from UAE-based airliner Rotana in May 2014. In response the UNP MP quipped the amount was much less than what an average “curd seller would earn in Hambantota”. “You were aiming to take MRIA to the London Gatwick level. But at this rate it would take ages to reach there,” opined Dr. de Silva. In response Minister Jayaratne assured that Government would continue to maintain MIRA rather than allowing the Opposition to convert it into a museum. “MRIA was built with Sri Lanka aiming towards becoming the aviation hub in Asia under the ‘Mahinda Chinthana’ political manifesto, with the airport having a one million passenger handling capacity and plans of increasing it to nine million by June 2015 with the ultimate goal set at 500 million passengers in the years to come,” the Minister told Parliament.