School kids from Kurnegala, come to check out the green.
After the Sri Lanka Civil War, our Chinese arms dealers got some land. Now the Rajapaksa family is selling even more land to unnamed Chinese investors. At the same time, they’re changing the laws to allow foreigners to buy Sri Lankan land without the usual taxes. I wouldn’t even call it a Chinese land grab. The Rajapaksas are just handing it over.
The land in question is around the iconic Galle Face Green. It was the site of a 1956 satyagraha (peaceful protest) by Tamil Parliamentarians. Since then, Sri Lanka was torn apart by civil war, but the Galle Face Green remained. Except when they tore it up for a year to re-green it. But nevermind.
I love Galle Face. You can get a shawarma from one of the eight competing ‘Original Nana’s’ outlets, or just grab an isso vade (fried shrimp thing) from a cart. People sell all kinds of pickled fruit and an overworked pony does the rounds. Busloads of outstation kids come and dip their toes in the somewhat hostile surf. It’s a good time. Every class and race ambles around there without thinking too much or blowing anything up. I dig it.
I don’t know how I feel about the Chinese. I mean, I like the Chinese people and I’d like to visit there, but I don’t really want their dodgy government owning parts of Sri Lanka. Developing, mmmm, I guess, but the Sunday Times article talks about land being sold outright. $700 million may seem like a lot now (especially for land that needs to be reclaimed) but it’s nothing in a hundred years. When Colombo develops that land will be the center of our city. And it won’t belong to us. We’ll have to rent it out from the Chinese.
The Coverage
Bandula Sirimanna is the Sunday Times journalist who’s been following this. It’s really quite shocking how it all comes together. In December of last year, the Sri Lanka Ports Authority said they were investing $100 million USD to reclaim 400 acres from the sea. Last Sunday the headline was that the government had received an investment of $700 million from China to reclaim 500 acres. Is the last 100 acres plagued by sea monsters? Killing sea monsters might cost $600 million USD, but I can’t imagine what else would make the price and deal change. Something doesn’t fit.
The Times quotes government sources saying the land is being sold to the Chinese, not leased. If the reclaimed land is being sold at $700 million that’s $8,750 per perch, which would be insane. In 2010, the SLPA said hoped to sell the land for around $100,000/perch (SLPA). According to per opposition MP Harsha de Silva, this is all being done without tenders or transparency. So really, who knows.
The Vade
I have no particular ill-will towards the Chinese. As far as I can tell, they take care of their own interests. I just wonder if the Sri Lankan government is taking care of ours. Wait, maybe I got that sentence wrong. The Chinese government takes care of their own interests, and the Sri Lankan government takes care of theirs. That makes more sense, and by sense I mean HORROR.
There will be no harm to the Gall Face Green nor will the sight- seers who comes to GFG to see the sea deprive of their recreational opportunity. Sri Lanka’s only 07 Star hotel will be built in the land which used to be the army head- quarters. The city to be built in the sea won’t block the sea view from the GFG.
You seem to be pretty well informed Kandula, care to share with us where you gleaned this information from?
Good post, quite a few things that we need to understand. I will try to summarise the key issues, as I see them.
1. Projects on land, whether houses, flats or office complexes should require planning permission. Anyone should be able to buy land but the development that takes place should conform to sensible planning regulations. Do we have sensible planning regulations that are uptodate and take account of the competing needs of housing/office/shopping space requirements while preserving greenery, tree cover, historic buildings? I don’t think so. The first priority is to update this, through a proper process of public consultation before starting anything else. We can use material available overseas as guide, just to give an example have a look at this:
http://www.sterlingbuilder.co.uk/planning.htm
My view is development is necessary but it needs to be done properly and systematically and provide a nice, liveable environment at the end. Lets get a proper framework within which to work as a first premise.
2. I dont think there is any harm in selling land to foreigners. They are hardly likely to remove it and take back home. This is my view, others may differ, the merits and demerits could be debated, however:
3. The sale of PUBLIC property, MUST go through a transparent process. This may be open auction or public tender, but bids need to be invited from all interested parties to ensure that the best prices are received. There are proper process defined by the Administrative and Financial Regulations, these MUST be followed in all instances. It may be necessary to update these to include open electronic auction.
The sale of privately owned land is not an issue, but is automatically subject to (1) above.
4. Reading the news report of the US$700m project it appears that all the Chinese are doing is the reclamation and (possibly) the development. The actual running of the Formula One race track, the hotels etc will be handled by the Government.
The merits of this course of action are debatable, I am of the view that a Government should not engage in business. The record of centrally planned economies is dreadful and the dire record of almost all the public sector businesses in Sri Lanka should serve as warning enough of the dangers. What invariably happens is that the public businesses are stuffed with incompetent cronies, the businesses make huge losses and the burden is borne by the taxpayer.
Please ignore the link above and refer to the link below for examples of planning regulation
http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/LGNL_Services/Environment_and_planning/Planning/
thanks for the comment Jack. My main question is, who owns the land? They’ve said it was a lease but flopped around. They also lifted that tax on foreign property buyers. The ST is quoting peeps saying that the land is to be an outright sale.
As to your other points, I think that we should have a transparent and simple policy to sell to foreigners. I think we also need an immigration policy. Selling to foreign state-owned companies is a bit weird though. There also deffa needs to be a bidding process because giving it to people you have war debts to is not really the best policy for the country.
Stop being so protectionist and xenophobic.
At least the Chinese will build what they say they will build, and at least Colombo is being developed and improved. Not left to rot and smoulder like it has been under various UNP governments.
Tamils must be shitting their pants in anger!
—
Sri Lanka secures $2.5 bln in port investments – official
* Sri Lanka sees biggest post-war investment
* Expects to double investment in 5 years
* Aims to start commercial operation in Hambantota from August
By Shihar Aneez
COLOMBO, June 23 (Reuters) – Sri Lanka has secured around $2.5 billion in local and foreign investment for the island nation’s port expansion and related infrastructure, the head of country’s ports authority said on Thursday.
It is Sri Lanka’s largest investment since the end of a 25-year war and comes as the $50 billion economy emerges from the end of a 25-year war.
“We have already secured around $2.5 billion (of) investment,” Sri Lanka Ports Authority Chairman Priyath Wickrama told Reuters. “This investment is bigger than the foreign direct investments to Sri Lanka. We will sign the agreements shortly.”
The investment includes around $1 billion for the island’s newly built port, $700 million for a port city on a reclaimed sea front, $500 million for port expansion in the commercial capital Colombo and $100 million for a cargo village, Wickrama said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/23/srilanka-investments-idUSL3E7HN28Y20110623
Nana’s stuff is good. Until you take a trip to the can oh 3-4 hours later :D #justsayin
You are right, the report is unclear.
The two para’s that are tricky are:
“The re-developed land would then be offered to other investors and the private sector, by the Chinese developer under the guidance of Government agencies which would be responsible for the entire design of the project.”
and
“The Sri Lanka Ports Authority will oversee the reclamation project which will be divided into three segments — business, residential and leisure. A mini-golf course, a Formula One race track, a small yacht marina and areas for water sports will be created. The feasibility study and an environmental impact assessment conducted by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority and the Moratuwa University have been completed. ”
The first seems to indicate that the Chinese will own it but if so why on earth would sales take place under the guidance of govt. agencies?
The second para seems to indicate a heavy involvement of the SLPA – it is they who will oversee the project and it is they who have conducted the environmental impact assessment. Does this mean that the project is actually managed by the SLPA/Govt and that the Chinese are merely contractors?
Zoid, pls see my comments above under (1) and (3).
If these are not followed we may end up with:
1. A concrete monstrosities that may or may not be white elephants as well.
2. The bulk of the monies paid being siphoned off into the pockets of officials.
3. A mountain of debt.
Indi…don’t act DUMB! Their is no Sri Lankan Government anymore…but there is definitely Rajapaksa’s ONE FAMILY DICTATORSHIP running the country…
This is an important invetment, Shangri La is a top notch brand in leisure industry. There is no harm to sell properties to foriegners, but we must come up with some ‘freehold’ zones, where any one can buy/sell properties.
This is an useless and baseless article just to vent the anger against the government. Whether we like it or not , MR and the clan will rule for another (minimum) 10-12 years.
Sri Lanka will grow fast, and there is no reason for not to grow fast, People like indi.ca will not accept it, but it’s gonna be the only way out for un-privilaged Sri lankans for a better future.
KADAVULE!!! AIYAIYO!
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1104129&page=2
Oh *yawn* !
Colombo has basically been a shit hole for far too long. Now that some development comes along you have a problem with it? WTF?
I have been thinking about growth and have come to the conclusion that the fundamental factor thing that will drive it is policy, not resources.
Infrastructure is necessary and will spur it in certain instances but without clear policy it is likely to be stunted. A good comparison would be Malaysia and Singapore, Singapore is far richer than Malaysia, despite Malaysia’s great advantage in resources (Singapore has only its location and a habour to work with).
Resources alone do not guarantee wealth, there are many examples of this in Africa, from Nigeria (a classic case) to Uganda. Botswana, thanks to sound policy, has managed to harvest its natural resources (mainly diamonds) for the benefit of its people. Elsewhere it has benefited only a few cronies and fueled many a war.
I have no particular beef with Shangri-La. I think they’ll develop the place properly.
The issue is why CATIC is being given equivalent land. They’ve done a few hotel in China, but they’re primarily a military aviation supplier. Does that make sense to you?
we are consulting agent in sri lanka
seeking for housing & build a hotel investers sri lanka or foreign buyers
pls cntc e mail
tks best rgds
Also some of the dangers of unplanned development:
http://lbo.lk/fullstory.php?nid=142340209
The Chinese Government refused to listen to anybody at the time they built this, now they admit to some of the problems. Lack of consultation and discussion can lead to many long term problems.
its gone to CATIC cause they bring (fast) money. similar to what happened with the A-9 (although the process here was not exactly fast)
another thing, how often does these sri lankan newspapers get their figures wrong. the sunday times can’t even do a simple conversion right. just awful
‘US Dollars 325 million (more than Rs. 3.8 billion)’
‘US$ 125 million (over Rs. 1.37 billion)’
well at least its definitely ‘more than’..
Hope we won’t have to get tickets to visit the GFG afterwards, and there will still be a sea infront of it instead of reclaimed land.
Personally I think Sri Lankan land should belong to Lankans. there are 20 million of us on a tiny Island. If anything they should spend that money o reclaim land for the beaches all around the islands, which should help make them more popular than they already are, and can accomadate more tourists. If foreigners want to buy land, its fair to tax them more since they don’t pay tax in Sri Lanka otherwise. Nothing like a small crowded beach that turns people off. Then they should build artificial corel reefs around that so its better protected from a tsunami. This would be better for sri lankans as well as tourists. I can’t see the benefit of a F1 track and all the other things they plan to put there right now, when there are more important things to do in the country. They will be good later, but not now. We shouldn’t be like India and get ahead of ourselves, we should be smarter than that.
You certainly dont understand the geo-political realities of the South Asian region. Our leaders are brilliant in their thinking, and are trying to neutralize the bullying and arm-twisting tactics of the hostile nations around us by bringing in China. The presence of Chinese and their businesses will ensure that there will be no poking of fingers in our rectal orifice by our close neighbors. Today we are being dragged on streets of international capitals because of the underground activities of the Intelligence agencies of hostile nations. There is every likelihood of Western criminals working through hostile neighbors for getting this plan shelved. It would be a privilege for Sri Lanka to be in close proximity China as it will be taking over the world economy in another 20 years.
“geo-political realities of the South Asian region” my foot!
read…http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2011/07/03/chinese-colonialism/
1. Chinese economy is overrated. Most of the wealth in China is actually concentrated in the cities; the average Chinese person earns less than $10 USD/day…( 1,500 RMB/month for a city laboroer – about $230 US – divide by 30 to get 7.6 USD per day) So while China’s real GDP may be increasing – thanks to its massive supply of cheap labor – one must question whether per capita GDP is keeping similar pace, e.g. whether the standard of living is actually increasing
2. The Chinese military is overrated (China cannot yet win a war against a single Western nation) . I’m guessing a good portion of its military equipment still consists of used Soviet stuff
3. Chinese economic growth has an upper limit; once that limit is reached, the bubble will burst and the sky will come crashing down. Once upon a time the Japanese economy was the world’s fastest growing economy, just like China is now. Then the ceiling hit the fan, and Japan went through decades of stagflation
The Chinese are leagues ahead of the Tamils. Tamils can’t hold a candle to them.
DAER
land has near the river 2 ark. one perches 45000.00 .
from bandaragama 8 km and from kauthera
12km
if you want persen call me 0716153769
0776930219
0383388796
thanks
prasanna ileperuma