Being a tiny island of 25000 square miles, driving on the existing roads, you can get from one end to the other in just a few hours. So, do we really need those environmentally destructive and expensive super expressways? Why not simply improve the existing excellent road network that we already have, with proper widening, carpeting, center overtaking lane, sidewalks, cycle lanes, parking lanes, bus stops and bus-bays, proper road signs, pedestrian crossings, rail gates with good warning lights etc. We can also do up all rural roads and paths, culverts and bridges etc. All this would be much cheaper and more effective and environment friendly than those monstrous expressways.
Do we really need more domestic airports, especially in the hill-country (i.e. Kandy and Nuwara Eliya) where the Kundasale Farm School, the Sita Eliya Research Farm and Potato Station and parts of forest reserves may have to be acquired? Has a feasibility study being done on how many tourists will use these facilities? How many foreign investors or businessmen will use these airports? Or, is it only for the politicos to do their electioneering at public expense?
Instead of the government building airports, why not encourage the private sector to invest in helicopters (There are small ones and larger twin rotor models which can ferry over 30 passengers in comfort) which can reach any tour destination, golf course or investment site direct from the hotel itself. The government need not get involved in this exercise at all and tax the tax payer or destroy the environment, except to provide the necessary incentives, tax rebates, duty concessions etc. we already have aqua planes and a series of air fields around the country which are hardly used.
A sports complex in, of all places Nawalapitiya! What a joke! It will last only as long as the incumbent minister. Yes, we do need to select and train rural athletes for the future. But why on earth can’t we bring them to the existing main sports complexes which should be fully upgraded to international standards along with top coaches and trainers. These trainee children should be awarded full scholarships, provided school and hostel accommodation and given an allowance plus all facilities, food, clothes, equipment etc by government.
What on earth happened to the Dambulla Cricket Stadium? I bet Nawalapitiya and Sooriyawewa will go the same way in time to come.
People can barely survive the horrendous cost of living while politicos and senior officials jet around the world at tax payers expense on foreign jaunts which bring no tangible benefits to the nation. Pensioners can barely purchase their medicines while pharmaceutical importers make billions. Village folk walk miles to fetch a pot of water and their children walk bear-foot to school, unable to afford a pair of rubber slippers.
With all this suffering, politicos plan to spend billions more on unproductive hair-brained projects. And worse, there is no opposition to tell our woes to.
By Cecil Dharmasena (Kandy)
Source: Island(Si Lanka)