“During the last six months I was able to execute projects and provide services to the public more than during my entire tenure as a Minister previously,” said former Minister of Small and Medium Business and Enterprise Development Wimal Weerawansa.
In an interview with the ‘Daily News’ he said that this became a reality due to a huge positive change of mindset of top decision makers of the government and also by the public sector after the election of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
“The government administration is also falling in line with the rapid rhythm in which the President is moving towards developing this country. People know that the President and even the Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has a genuine vision to take Sri Lanka to the next level of economic development and the government officials also want to chip in by playing their part,” said the former Minister.
Unlike in the previous regimes, the President is not keen to drag on any issue by appointing committees and hence the country is moving at a faster pace, he further stated.
Following is the Q&A with the Minister:
Q: What are the positive changes that you see in the last six months?
A: Though opposition says this government has not lived up to its expectations people know that it is just ‘cheap political talk’. 
Firstly, the government machinery from top to bottom moved swiftly and professionally to save the lives of the people from the Covid pandemic and keep the number of patients at around 2,200 and most importantly deaths at 11. How Covid clusters were identified, spread curtailed and patients treated is undoubtedly among the best the world. This clearly shows the management skills of the government.
Similarly, despite the pandemic, Sri Lanka has honored all its international debt creditably and has also provided huge ‘handouts’ to the public.
The government could have done more if not for the uncalled for sanctions by the Elections Commissioner. However, soon after the election, we will implement the 100,000 job scheme which also includes providing employment for youth who do not even have O/L qualifications.
If you take my Ministry we had regular meetings with the SME, industrial and other sectors and have found permanent solutions for issues that were discussed previously and not solved for over 10 years.
Q: What do you proposes to do for some of the closed government factories and loss making entities?
A: Firstly, closing state owned factories and thereby destroying the livelihoods of people who depended on them is a major crime.
For example, the Valaichchenai Paper Mill is a huge asset but has been shut down and Sri Lanka is spending millions of dollars to import paper and cardboard. I allocated minimum funds, got the assistance from the Sri Lanka Army and Navy and then appointed a Chairman with immense knowledge of the industry and today Valaichchenai Paper Mill is operating again. Over 30 metric tons of paper and cardboard produced at the factory will be sold on July 30 and we will keep on investing more to increase production.
My next step is to open the Embilipitiya Paper Mill which will be a reality by the end of year. The Cabinet of Ministers has approved a proposal to revive the national paper mills invalidating an earlier decision to liquidate state-owned enterprises. This factory was leased to an investor who in turn pawned its machinery to Seylan Bank and got a bigger price and he then abandoned it. Now we are re-negotiating with the bank to pay this loan in installments and get back the machinery to re-start the factory.
With both factories operating, we will firstly produce the entire newsprint order locally in less than 18 months and also I will make Sri Lanka self-sufficient in paper in two years.
Similarly, some of the ceramics and brick and tile producing factories in the North East and Mahiyangana have been reopened and I am told that one of three factories will be producing Sri Lanka’s first solar tile for export as well. The Ministry is now in the process of obtaining solar-based panel material for this tile.
The government has identified the resumption of state enterprises, which have been closed down without manufacturing activities, as a priority of the government and the Ministry of Industry and Supply Management has decided to restart all the Public Enterprises which are not currently in production and have the potential for restructuring.
We have also identified several state assets that have been abandoned and we are in the process of turning them around to be made profit oriented. One of the keys to these successes is that men and women with qualifications and working knowledge in the subject have been appointed to head these institutions sans any political favoritisms.
Q: How has the Palmyrah Development Board progressed?
A: This again today is turning out to be a major foreign exchange saver as well as an earner to Sri Lanka. It’s producing Palmyrah coir to corporates such as Hayley’s and we will look at exports as well. Earlier the Palmyrah Coir was paid Rs. 2.50 per kilogram and today we are paying Rs. 5.
I am also looking at constructing a large coir product factory in the North in joint partnership with my Ministry, Hayley’s and a Canadian investor.
PDB hopes to set up 14 such Fiber Processing Centers in the North East, firstly to meet the total local fiber demand in six months and then look at exports.
This will reverse the current trend of spending dollars to import fiber and add a new product to Sri Lanka’s export basket. Palmyrah Arrack is now developed as a major export product and we are awaiting final approvals and settlement of the Covid Pandemic to export it to Canada and then to the UK, Australia and Europe.
For the first time, Palmyrah Development Board is producing novel products such as Ice cream, sugar and handicrafts products once again for local (through CWE) and export market.
Q: How do you view the response for these efforts from the North and the East?
A: Tamil people in the North and the East now know that our government is sincere in its endeavours to develop the North East. Due to this our party will secure more preferences this time. Also, for the first time, I am requested to attend political rallies of Tamil political parties and Tamil youth are spontaneously canvassing for me as they too are endorsing my economic agenda towards the development of the country.
We are also in the process of extracting the untapped natural resources especially in the North East and put them to productive use. This will firstly help the Northerner to understand that the government is genuinely taking initiatives to increase their money flow by way of giving them high value for their traditional products. Secondly, it will also create self-employment projects for the Northerner who has been cold shouldered by successive governments.”
I have also met officials from one of the world’s largest Supermarket Chains, Lulu from UAE to be buyers of Northern Agri and handicraft products. These moves have enabled the Northern SME sector to receive a major boost helping to breach the North South economic disparity gap. We have also offered 200 acres of Cashew Corporation land to be leased to 350 farmers to be used for growing ‘cash crops’ on a long term lease.
Q: Obtaining credit to kick start a SME or Start Up business is still an issue. How do you address this?
A: Cabinet has approved a proposal forwarded by me to set up a ‘Special Guarantee Fund’. This fund would act to provide the much needed ‘collateral’ for banks, inventors and Start Ups.
This would help to gain the much needed capital infusion for the Micro, MSME sectors as this ‘Special Guarantee Fund’ provides all the bank guarantees.
In addition, People’s Bank has entered into a partnership with the Industrial Development Board (IDB) to uplift micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the country to provide seed capital. The programme, in addition to providing capital, would also help to empower the MSMEs with the necessary knowledge and best practices. It has been agreed that 5,000 MSMEs would be nurtured where they would receive technical and managerial support in addition to access to financial facilities to ensure sustainability of their businesses. This move will create new enterprises, increase Sri Lanka’s export product basket bringing in additional Forex and also helping to produce locally thus slashing the import bill as well.
The move will also increase domestic value addition and employment generation.
Q: The temporary import ban is having a negative impact on several sectors and what is the solution you propose?
A: A special telephone hotline has been set up to assist small or large scale industries facing a shortage of raw materials or any other issue due to the Coronavirus and the import ban.
Some of the raw materials are being imported from China and due to the Coronavirus it is difficult to import these raw materials further aggravating the situation.
However, once the issue is reported to the Ministry, necessary action could be taken and they could assist the industrialists to resolve their issues. Meanwhile, industrialists must also look at the use of local raw material in a more aggressive manner. From the Ministry perspective we are moving towards obtaining locally available raw material such as Graphite, monazite, ilmonite, quartz, phosphate rock and doing value addition and making them available locally. For example, chemicals to manufacture paint are exported from Sri Lanka and imported back to Sri Lanka with value addition and we must try to reverse this cycle.
By opening some of the closed down factories and infusing new technology these objectives could be met.
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