Invest In Sri Lanka
What every Sri Lankan needs is a chance to develop this bountiful land. More than resolutions or aid, this will improve peoples lives. To that end, BizPAct is having a symposium and regional tours this month to promote investment in Sri Lanka. This Business For Peace Alliance is, IMHO, the best thing we can do right now. Relief must be ‘given’ right now but this is neither sustainable nor right in the long run. At some point people can and will move from being alive to making a living. Sri Lanka will develop. I personally think it’s a good time to invest.
With the end of war Sri Lanka is going to develop. Who knows, I’ve been disappointed before as my parents and grandparents before me. But even a halting peace will bring development, despite general economic mismanagement. Terrorism hits economies hard and without it lives can improve.
According to a Commercial Bank report, some of the projects planned include highways connecting Colombo, Kandy, Katunayake, Anuradhapura and the south. There are also three power generation projects and port development in Colombo, Galle, Oluvil and Hambantota, plus an international airport in Weeravila. I also know that part of the latter telecom boom was due to rapid take-up in the North and East. When the war began you could see the profitability plummet. There’s huge possibility in that sector alone.
Without LTTE occupation miles of coastline can now be developed, roads can be built, hospitals, schools, etc. Under the LTTE everything down to children was militarized and social service were still run by government agents. That is, schools and hospitals were still government run, but disconnected. Now it is possible to develop those social services without sacrificing everyone and everything to military ends.
Personally, I think developing business and livelihood is one of the most important things we can do for a lasting peace. All the resolutions and statements in the world don’t mean anything if they don’t deliver some improvement in peoples daily lives. The concepts of human rights and civil liberties don’t have teeth if people are too poor to exercise them. More generally, I think Sri Lanka itself is a wealth of untapped potential, the North and East in particular. It could all go to seed, but we might as well give it a shot.
For further reading I’d check out the Business For Peace Alliance Site, Point Pedro Institute For Development (which the Commercial Bank report cribs shamelessly from), or the development blog New Sri Lanka. Two bank reports are also linked below.
Sri Lanka, A New Chapter – HSBC Report (PDF)
Sri Lanka, A New Story – Commercial Bank (Powerpoint)
Today on the 
Janith has updated 
This is highly dubious. Miss Travel is a travel/social networking site that connects ‘Generous’ and ‘Attractive’ travelers. To, like, travel together, I guess. It all seems a bit like arranged prostitution and trafficking. This is part of a broader online trend to connect rich men to younger, attractive women. Sites like 
Sri Lankan domestics never say anything, they just stop coming. My maid just stopped coming and when I finally pressed her she said I needed to get a washing machine. I was hoping to ride this one out, but I’ve run out of underwear and I have no choice. I finally caved and bought a washing machine, from 
Page 7 of the HSBC notes a rise in “animal spirits” after the end of war. I couldn’t have put it better myself.
Hey Sanjana, you do not miss a trick do you.
I am amazed that you still have words on the subject.
those are the words of Robert Shiller, who if i’m not mistaken, is not a “peacenik, tiger loving” character as SH is so often described.
mmm… Appu can smell the gravy.
what’s what’s wrong with the sign in the pic?
In addition to signs like this the central govt also sends most of the documents and forms for administration to the NOrth East in sinhala only.
Didn’t notice that about the sign. Most things I’ve seen up there are either trilingual or Tamil predominant. I dunno about forms, but there was a list of names posted at the Divisional Secretariat which was entirely in Tamil.
Indi your comment “Didn’t notice that about the sign” shows how sinhalese people can miss the point even when it is staring you right in the face. Not to stereotype, but those who are negatively affected will catch it. This is the same with the Sri Lankan civil war.
take it easy,
Road signs like these should be trilingual. But list of names at DS offices can be more targeted to the group it predominantly serves. Outsiders visiting don’t need every little detail, do they?
Best practice is to have all the main signs boards trilingual with the predominant language given prominence. But in Sri Lanka, even in the Northeast, sinhala is mostly given prominence. Like Nagenahira Navodhaya (Eastern Reawakening). Because most of the government administration is run by sinhalese and sinhala chauvinism largely dominates their mindsets (no stereotype intended).
take it easy,
@myil Do you leave in Sri Lanka? Most signage and government services I’ve encountered in the north are in Tamil. The major exception is a lot of the police force, which needs to change. Signage round the east/north is very much in Tamil, depending on the population. What you’re referring to is one random sign in Vavuniya. At the government agent’s everything I saw was in Tamil, I thought they needed more Sinhala.