“Don’t seek to capitalise on our achievements’

By Shamindra Ferdinando 

Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) leader Udaya Gammanpila said that he was delighted that the National People’s Power (NPP) government had decided to go ahead with the Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm development project agreement inked during President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s presidency.

The former Energy Minister said so in response to The Island query regarding President Anura Kumara Dissanyake’s declaration at a public rally held at Katukurunda that 61 out of the 99 oil storage tanks would be jointly developed. The President sought credit for the project implying that his recent state visit to New Delhi facilitated it, former lawmaker Gammanpila said.

Declaring that the agreement on the Trincomalee oil tank farm had been signed on January 06, 2022, Attorney-at-Law Gammanpila emphasized that it was tabled in Parliament on Feb 08, 2022. The signatories to the agreement were Sri Lanka, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), Lanka IOC and the subsidiary company Trinco Petroleum Terminal Pvt. Ltd., of which CPC retained 51% and Lanka IOC 49%. President Dissanayake, who had been the leader of a three-member NPP ministerial delegation that made a state visit to India last month, couldn’t be unaware of the agreement that was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers on January 03, 2022, in the run-up to the eruption of public protest campaign demanding President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s ouster, the PHU leader said.

Having been severely critical of the then government’s plans, it would be unfair of the NPP leader ,who is also the leader of the JVP, to take credit for this strategically important Trinco project.

The ex-MP stressed that Lanka IOC is a subsidiary of Indian Oil Corporation which is under the ownership of that country’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

Alleging that the NPP has nothing to do with the Trinco project, the ex-Energy Minister said that in terms of the agreement that covered lower and upper sections of the oil tank farm – consisting of 99 tanks – 14 tanks were further leased to Lanka IOC, 24 tanks to the CPC and the rest to be jointly developed by India and Sri Lanka.

Of the 24 tanks allocated to CPC, five had been already renovated, the PHU chief said, adding that Sri Lanka and India first covered the Trinco oil tank farm in an agreement at the time of the Indo-Lanka Accord that was forced on President J.R. Jayewardene. Since then there had been a couple of agreements that dealt with the British built Trinco oil tank farm targeted by a Japanese naval task force during the Second World War. Of the 100-tank facility, only one was hit.

The PHU leader said that President Dissanayake also claimed credit for securing, what his media division dubbed, the single largest foreign direct investment worth USD 3.7 bn on a state-of-the-art oil refinery at Mirijjawila, Hambantota, whereas the actual agreement was finalized in Nov. 2023 during Ranil Wickremesinghe’s presidency. SLPP’s Kanchana Wijesekera served as the Energy Minister at that time.

The former Minister urged the NPP to accept the truth. Having repeatedly accusing the previous governments of selling national assets to India, the NPP now pursued the same policy, Gammanpila said, declaring the NPP took the electorate for a mega ride. The NPP had been badly exposed and humiliated in the eyes of the public who really believed their catchy and often touted vow to change the system.

The former Minister said that President Dissanayake’s state visits to New Delhi and Beijing advanced the agendas that had been previously agreed. “That is the truth the NPP is reluctant to accept. The NPP claims on Trinco oil tank farm and Mirijjiwila oil refinery proved beyond doubt that previously agreed projects were continuing,” ex-lawmaker Gammanpila said.

Contrary to routine criticism of the IMF, the NPP leadership faithfully followed the IMF agenda as agreed during the Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa administration, the lawyer said, reminding the NPP conveniently refrained from opposing the Economic Transformation Bill that received parliamentary approval during Wickremesinghe’s presidency.

Gammanpila said that essentially the NPP’s overall policies were the same. There couldn’t be better examples than the continuation of the Trinco project inked before Aragalaya and the Mirijjawila project finalised a year after Aragalaya to highlight the NPP’s duplicity, he said.

The government is planning to hold a conference for Members of Parliament with disabilities for the first time in the country.

Speaker Dr. Jagath Wickramaratne had made this announcement during a meeting with the Chief Observer of the European Union Election Observation Mission, Jose Ignacio Sanchez Amor, who is also a Member of the European Parliament.

The Chief Observer of the European Union Election Observation Mission presented the final report of the 2024 Presidential Election Observation Mission to Speaker Dr Wickramaratne at the Parliament premises, Parliament Media Division said yesterday

During the meeting, Sanchez Amor congratulated the Speaker and the new government, praising the democratic conduct of the elections and the vital role played by the Election Commission.

He had emphasised the importance of strengthening the Commission and expressed his appreciation for the increased representation of women in the current Parliament.

The speaker had thanked the European Union Election Observation Mission for their insights and highlighted the government’s commitment to achieving transparent, corruption-free governance with true democratic values.

Rs 5.5 billion already spent

The government has procured 350 units of biometric hardware, including high-resolution cameras and fingerprint scanners, for its upcoming Sri Lanka Unique Digital Identity (SL-UDI) project which seeks to convert the country’s standard identification card (ID) to a digital ID, according to a report published by the Biometric Update yesterday.

The tender for the balance 400 units of the same hardware had been awarded, Deputy Minister of Digital Economy Eranga Weeraratne told Biometric Update on Sunday in Colombo.

Weeraratne said the Department of Registrar of Persons (DRP) had already spent Rs 5.5 billion on the SL-UDI project which aims to boost the economy, enhance services, and address corruption.

Weeraratne said that the previous government had secured a RS 10.4 billion financial grant from India for the project which is estimated at a cost of RS 20 billion (US$67.3 million). This includes two sophisticated data centres to host the platform at two DRP sites, running the platform for three years along with the hardware cost. “The government will need to put in an additional Rs 4.5 billion,” Weeraratne said.

Concerns were raised over potential Indian access to Sri Lankan’s personal data, prompting further negotiation by the NPP government.

The NPP government amended an agreement with India for project development, ensuring local control with non-profit Indian platform provider MOSIP (Modular Open-Source Identification Platform).

MOSIP has been engaged with Sri Lanka’s government on the digital ID programme since 2020.

Weeraratne noted that the services of the Indian partner are used to develop the project and customization of software. He said the new government after analyzing the agreement with India, looked at it positively but insisted on several amendments to safeguard the sovereignty of data and to have control of the digital ID platform.

“The system will be 100 percent controlled and managed by Sri Lankan professionals. The government will undertake login, database, and software updates.”

The DRP is in the final stage of implementation of this platform and training the provisional council personnel. Weeraratne said that collecting fingerprints and face recognition will start next month. The last revision of the Digital ID Act in the country provides for fingerprint and facial recognition.

The Deputy Minister of Digital Economy said that iris biometric scans will come later when the DRP and the system itself are equipped to collect the data.

The project will start by issuing digital IDs for 16-year-olds who are eligible for their first ID. After six months, the project will avail itself for the old national identity cards and convert them into electronic national identity cards (e-NICs), Weeraratna added.

He noted that institutions such as banks will implement digital ID and also have fingerprint scanning facilities to identify the account holders in the future.