JVP breathes fire against 2018 Commonwealth Games bid

By Chamitha Kuruppu

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna claims spending Rs. 265 billion on an 11-day extravaganza is intolerable for an economically ailing country like Sri Lanka.

Addressing a media briefing the JVP warned that the aftermath of hosting the 2018 Commonwealth Games would not be rosy as the Rajapaksa administration predicts

According to JVP Propaganda Secretary Vijitha Herath the cost of hosting this mega sports event is equal to one fourth of the Government’s estimated revenue for year 2012.

“Government’s estimated revenue for year 2012 is 1000 billion rupees. The Government is planning to spend 265 billion rupees on an 11-day extravaganza. They have already spent 400 million on this. At the beginning they paid 400 million rupees to a British company only to carry out a publicity campaign,” he explained.   

Herath said considering the major international events the government has hosted over the past and the outcome of such events it isn’t difficult to assume the 2018 Commonwealth Games will bring much benefit to the country.   

“The Government organised a number of such events promising economic boom and development. Unfortunately all such events ended up as failures. None of those events could deliver what was promised by the government. It only resulted in loss of massive amount of public funds,” he said.   

“Over the past months Government continuously highlighted the importance of hosting this mega event. The Governor of the Central Bank considered as a key position in the Government is acting like a sales representative. This is a sad situation.

“The Government should stop its ‘dream trade’. The Government should focus on increasing country’s production and through the uplift lives of people in this country,” noted Herath.

He further said that Sri Lanka should learn a lesson from Greece. “This amount is not something that a country like Sri Lanka can put up with. We have to learn a lesson from Greece. After spending 13.5 billion rupees for 2004 Olympics the economy of Greece has collapsed today. The European Union has warned that it no longer can assist Greece to overcome its financial catastrophe,” he added.  

Claiming the Government is spending public money on extravaganzas one after another -- JVP asserted the country is not in a position to afford such massive amounts of money spent on worthless exhibitions.  

“The total loss incurred by Mihin Lanka since its inception in 2005 to date is 6.8 billion rupees. Government’s much anticipated hedging deal was only a dream. That dream has shattered today. The loss from the deal is nearly Rs. 80 billion,” he explained.

“What did the Government say about the IIFA? They said it will attract more tourists and boost the tourism industry. At the end of the day IIFA was a failed event. It was an unsuccessful event internationally. And what was the result? The country lost billions of rupees.”

Speaking further Herath queried about the lavish expenses on President’s swearing in ceremony of which the expenditure was over one billion rupees.

“When the Cricket World Cup began Government said, by hosting the games there will be a boom in tourism.

They said the event would improve our cricketing facilities especially it would improve our grounds. Unfortunately, Sri Lanka became the only country that incurred massive losses after hosting a Cricket World Cup in the world. Our neighbouring country India has earned US$ 1 billion from television commercials,” asserted Herath.

According to him today the Cricket Institution is unable to pay salaries to its 263 employees. The institution is trying to obtain a loan from the government to pay salaries for the month of October.

Herath pointed out that due to political interference the Lankaputhra Bank today has a 58% loan default rate.

In an ordinary bank the rate is only 2% to 3%. The bank has sustained heavy losses. “Another such institution is the Merchant Bank of Ceylon. Then known as The Finance Company, the institution was taken over by the Government in 2008. After three years this institution has generated a loss of 1.8 billion rupees,” he said.