ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya believes that state-owned enterprises (SOEs) must be restructured but only as long as tender procedures are followed, a party spokesman said accusing the government of not being transparent in its dealings.
SJB legislator Harshana Rajakaruna told reporters on Friday June 02 that deals are being made under the guise of SOE restructuring in the name of economic reforms.
The MP claimed that 14 acres of the Colombo Port was handed over to a Chinese company with no tender process whatsoever.
“Apparently, it has already been decided who should get Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) and the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation (SLIC),” he claimed.
The MP did not present any evidence, documentary or otherwise, to back up the claims.
“There is a concern about handing over profit-making entities to friends. The SJB will stand against this,” said Rajakaruna.
“As a party, we believe that SOEs must be restructured. But there should be transparency. There should be a tender process,” he said.
Critics of the SJB say the party has been stradling a position of supporting reforms needed for Sri Lanka to recover from its ongoing crisis while taking up populist positions of not “selling national assets”, a leftist euphemism for privatisation. Political analysts say that with the rise of the leftist National People’s Power (NPP) in the wake of the 2022 mass protests, the more fiscally right-of-centre SJB has had to reconfigure its political identity.
This is against a backdrop of rapid reforms proposed by President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s administration which has announced plans to restructure SOEs across sectors.
Wickremesinghe himself has said that the state has no business doing business as its mandate is to provide services such as education and maintain law & order.
The following seven SOEs were reported to undergo a divestment of state-held shares, according to a statement in March 2023:
- Sri Lankan Airlines Ltd including Sri Lankan Catering Ltd
- Sri Lanka Telecom PLC
- Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation Ltd
- Canwill Holdings Pvt. Ltd., (Grand Hyatt Hotel)
- Hotel Developers Lanka Ltd., (Hilton Hotel Colombo),
- Litro Gas Lanka Ltd., including Litro Gas Terminals (Pvt) Ltd., (LPG retailing)
- Lanka Hospital Corporation PLC
The State Owned Enterprises Restructuring Unit of the Ministry of Finance, Economic Stabilisation and National Policies was to oversee the process, a statement said.
The SJB and other opposition parties have accused the government of a lack of transparency in the restructuring process. (Colombo/Jun02/2023)