Opinion

My contribution to construction of new buildings in the University of Colombo

Published

2 years ago

2023/05/7

With the new government which came into power in 1977 there were several changes that took place. This was so in the case of construction of new buildings in government departments, corporations and other statutory bodies such as the universities.

It was not necessary for the universities to advertise calling for tenders from prospective consultants and building contractors. The universities had to submit the requirements of consultants and contractors indicating the new buildings to be constructed to the National Consortium set up by the government for this purpose. The Consortium sent the names of the consultants and contractors for each new building to be constructed.

The new buildings that the University of Colombo had planned to be constructed were the Chemistry Department, Physics Department, Law Faculty, Arts Faculty, Library and the New Administration buildings. All these buildings except the Library building were still under construction when I took over the reins as Registrar in 1984.

The first to be completed by the main contractor was the Chemistry building. However, when I inspected the laboratories, the timber used was of very poor quality and I asked the consultant to get the sub-contractor to remove all the laboratory tables and replace them with tables of good-seasoned timber. He declined to do this.

I got legal action instituted in the Mount Lavinia courts and at the end of the case the judge gave the decision in favour of the university. The contractor had to sell his car and other belongings to pay the compensation due to the university. I got the Government Factory to get all the laboratory equipment installed, including the tables with well-seasoned timber.

The Physics Department building ran into a problem with regard to the specifications which was pointed out by the structural engineer of the Buildings Department. The consultant did not accept it and unilaterally withdrew from the consultancy. Thereafter, the building was completed with the Buildings Department taking over the consultancy and rectifying the defective specifications.

The consultants to the Law Faculty building had designed the building utilizing materials for the roof (cladding), the ceiling, etc to be imported from Singapore so that the final cost of constructing the building would be high. This was because the Construction Consortium had decided that the consultants get 15% of the total cost! All the consultants used this ruse to jack up their dues.

The contractor (a government corporation) had damaged the roof claddings by boring the holes in the wrong places and this led to the roof leaking. I asked the contractor to replace the roof claddings at their own expense which they refused. I had to get rid of the contractor and withhold payment of Rs. 1. 5 million which was needed to replace the roofing sheets.

I got another contractor who was doing some other building in the university to complete the Law Faculty building. Next the consultant made a request to get the final payment. I told him that it cannot be done until the building is completed. He decided to leave taking the decision unilaterally. The consultant was not paid the amount.

The next building was the Faculty of Arts building which is a monstrous piece of architecture. We had to get the Finance Ministry approval to commence work in respect of this building. The Vice-Chancellor(VC) wanted me to draft a letter to the Minister of Finance(Mr. Ronnie de Mel) as most of the funds were being diverted to the University of Ruhuna. The VC sent the letter without any alterations and the university received the blessings of the Minister to commence operations.

The consultants had measured the land and had come to the conclusion that the land available would not be enough to accommodate the building. They suggested that the university get some land from the Planetarium premises. I went and met the Director of the Planetarium and apprised him of the problem and told him that I will give him double the land from the adjoining area in exchange for the plot given to the university.

He told me that he cannot do it as he had no authority. Then I contacted the Senior Assistant Secretary of the Ministry and as was expected of a government officer, he did not agree. The Secretary of the Ministry had the same answer. Now only the Minister was left to be contacted. When I told the ViCe-Chancellor, Prof. Stanley Wijesundera, he immediately got the Minister, Mr. Jayatillake on line and addressing him by his first name told him the problem. The Minister immediately gave instructions to release the land required by the university. But ultimately, it turned out that the additional land was not required.

In the case of the Arts Faculty building too the consultant had put in many unnecessary features to jack up the cost. When it came to the second stage of the building, I told the consultant to reduce all the unnecessary frills and get a simple building constructed. This was done and the cost was reduced drastically.

But the university had many problems with the contractor as he was trying to get an additional amount by contacting the Vice-Chancellor, then ICTAD Chairman and the Secretary of the Ministry of Education. Right along the line I refused stating that the university had settled all dues.

On the land where the Arts Faculty building was to come up, there were a number of small tenements abutting Reid Avenue, occupied by the descendants of the Ceylon Turf Club (CTC) employees and others. We had to get rid of them to free the land for university use. It is a long story as to how I got rid of them. But to cut it short, I got it done with the help of the Urban Development Authority (UDA), by payment of compensation to only the descendants of the CTC employees.

The new Administration building was being constructed by the same contractor who was doing the Physics building. Whenever I went on an inspection, I found various shortcomings which I got the contractor to demolish and redo. The Buildings Department representative on the job was not supervising the work as he was in the pocket of the contractor, and in fact he used to drive the contractor’s van! Here too the consultants did not attend to the supervision properly and as such I did not pay the final instalment.

The next building to be constructed was the Botany building which was stage one of the planned Biology building. After a long delay, I managed to get the Treasury to agree to releasing the funds for this purpose. The second stage did not get off the ground until I left the university.

Of the buildings planned in 1980, the last to get off the ground was the Library building. From 1980 upto the time Mr. Richard Pathirana assumed duties as the Minister of Higher Education the Treasury had approved to release only Rs. 7.5 million. Then I wrote to the Ministry of Higher Education and with the help of two engineers in the Ministry and the UGC, I was able to get the required funds approved by the Treasury, which was now Rs. 245million.

A few alterations were done to the original plan and the building was constructed in between the Arts and Law Faculties. At the opening ceremony, the Vice-Chancellor mentioned all the other names, but my name was not mentioned even though the building would not have got off the ground if not for my effort. That is gratitude!

I must also mention an old building that had been constructed for the exhibition held in 1965 which was one of the two buildings left intact after the exhibition. The other was the Planetarium. This two storied building was used as the library on the ground floor and the upper floor as an examination hall. The building was surrounded by a moat.

I had to get a lot of work attended to to get the building to a usable standard as the roof was leaking and water was seeping through the floor which damaged some of the books. When the new library building became functional, this building was demolished.

I had a plan to get a new pavilion constructed retaining the front of the old existing pavilion. I got a design done for an upstair building with all facilities for two teams, which was done free of charge by the Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau (CECB) . But I could not get this off the ground as the Instructor in Physical Education connived with a Dean of a Faculty and objected to the construction of a new pavilion.

I also got a cricket scoreboard done with all facilities as the university was using a small board to put up the scores. Here too the same Instructor got round the captain of cricket and saw to it that the scoreboard was never used!

HM NISSANKA WARAKAULLE

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Opinion

LG polls, what a waste of money!

Published

23 hours ago

2025/03/13

Sahan Weerasooriya

If the people of this country were asked whether they want elections to the local government, majority of them would say no! How many years have elapsed since the local councils became defunct? And did not the country function without these councils that were labelled as ‘white elephants’?

If the present government’s wish is to do the will of the people, they should reconsider having local government elections. This way the government will not only save a considerable amount of money on holding elections, but also save even a greater amount by not having to maintain these local councils, which have become a bane on the country’s economy.

One would hope that the country will be able to get rid of these local councils and revert back to the days of having competent Government Agents and a team of dedicated government officials been tasked with the responsibility of attending to the needs of the people in those areas.

M. Joseph A. Nihal Perera

Opinion

What not to do

Published

2 days ago

2025/03/12

Sahan Weerasooriya

Trump and Zelensky arguing in the White House

By Dr Upul Wijayawardhana

It is immaterial whether you like him or not but one thing is crystal clear; Donald Trump has shown, very clearly, who is the boss. Surely, presidents of two countries are equal; perhaps, that is the impression Volodymyr Zelensky had when he went to the White House to meet Trump but the hard reality, otherwise, would have dawned on him with his inglorious exit! True, the behaviour of President Trump and VP Vance were hardly praiseworthy but Zelensky did what exactly he should not do. Afterall, he was on a begging mission and beggars cannot be choosers! He behaved like professional beggars in Colombo who throw money back when you give a small amount!!

Despite the risk of belonging to the minority, perhaps of non-Americans, I must say that I quite like Trump and admire him as a straight-talking politician. He keeps to his words; however atrocious they sound! Unfortunately, most critics overlook the fact that what Trump is doing is exactly what he pledged during his election campaign and that the American voters elected him decisively. When he lost to Biden, all political commentators wrote him off, more so because of his refusal to admit defeat and non-condemnation of his supporters who rioted. When he announced his intention to contest, it only evoked pundits’ laughter as they concluded that the Republican Party would never nominate him. Undaunted, Trump got the party to rally round him and won a non-consecutive second term; a feat achieved only once before, by Grover Cleveland around the end of the nineteenth century. His victory, against all predictions, was more decisive as he got more collegiate votes and, even though it does not matter, won the popular vote too which he did not get when he got elected the first term. Even his bitterest critics should accept this fact.

Zelensky was elected the president of Ukraine after the elected pro-Soviet president was deposed by a ‘peoples revolution’ engineered by the EU with the support of USA. After this, the EU attempted to bring Ukraine to NATO, disregarding the Munich agreement which precipitated the Russian invasion. He should have realised that, if not for the air-defence system which Trump authorised for Ukraine during his first term, Russian invasion would have been complete. It may well be that he was not aware as when this happened Zelensky may still have been the comedian acting the part of the president! Very likely, Trump was referring to this when he accused Zelensky of being ungrateful.

Zelensky also should have remembered that he disregarded requests from Trump, after his defeat by Biden, to implicate Biden’s son in some shady deals in Ukraine and that one of the last acts of Biden was to pardon his son and grant immunity to cover the alleged period. Perhaps, actions of the European leaders who embrace him every time they see him, as a long-lost brother, and invitations to address their parliaments has induced an element of the superiority complex in Zelensky that he behaved so combative.

Trump wanted to be the mediator to stop the war and spoke to Putin first. Instead of waiting for Trump to speak to him, egged on by EU leaders Zelensky started criticising Trump for not involving him in the talks. His remark “He should be on our side” demonstrated clearly that Zelensky had not understood the role of a mediator. His lack of political experience was the major reason for the fiasco in the White House and the subsequent actions of Trump clearly showed Zelensky where he stands! PM Starmer and President Macron seem to have given some sensible advice and he seems to be eating humble pie. In the process Trump has ensured that the European nations pay for their defence than piggy-backing on the US, which I am sure would please the American voter. By the way, though Macron talks big about defence France spends less than 2% of GDP. Trump seems vindicated. Of course, Trump could be blamed for being undiplomatic but he can afford to be as he has the upper hand!

Ranil on Al Jazeera

Zelensky has shown what not to do: instead of being diplomatic being aggressive when you need favours! Meanwhile, Ranil has shown what not to do when it comes to TV interviews. God only knows who advised him, and why, for him to go ‘Head to Head’ with Mehdi Hasan on Al-Jazeera. Perhaps, he wanted to broadcast to the world that he was the saviour of Sri Lanka! The experienced politician he is, one would have expected Ranil to realise that he would be questioned about his role in making Sri Lanka bankrupt as well, in addition to raising other issues.

The interview itself was far from head to head; more likely heads to head! It turned out to be an inquisition by Tiger supporters and the only person who spoke sense being Niraj Deva, who demonstrated his maturity by being involved in British and EU politics. The worst was the compere who seems keen to listen his own voice, reminding me of a Sinhala interviewer on a YouTube channel whose interviews I have stopped watching!

Ranil claims, after the interview was broadcast, that it had been heavily edited reduced from a two-hour recording. Surely, despite whatever reason he agreed to, he should have laid ground rules. He could have insisted on unedited broadcast or his approval before broadcast, if it was edited. It was very naïve of Ranil to have walked in to a trap for no gain. Though his performance was not as bad as widely reported, he should have been more composed at the beginning as he turned out to be later. Overall, he gave another opportunity for the Tiger rump and its supporters to bash Sri Lanka, unfortunately.

Medhi Hasan should watch some of David Frost interviews, especially the one with Richard Nixon, and learn how to elicit crucial information in a gentle exploratory manner than shouting with repeated interruptions. He does not seem to think it is necessary to give time for the interviewee to respond to his questions. I will never watch Al-Jazeera’s “Head to Head” again!

Ranil’s best was his parting shot; when asked by Hasan whether he would contest the next presidential election, he said “No, I will retire and watch Al-Jazeera and hope to see you better mannered”!

Opinion

Ajahn Brahm to visit SL in May 2025

Published

3 days ago

2025/03/11

Sahan Weerasooriya

The Ajahn Brahm Society of Sri Lanka (ABSSL) is pleased to announce that Ajahn Brahm will be visiting Sri Lanka for a short stay in May this year. Many, both Buddhists and non-Buddhists, know him and have listened to his addresses made on earlier visits, including his 2023 public talk at the BMICH, which was attended by over 4,000 people.

Ajahn Brahmavamso, popularly known as Ajahn Brahm, is the Head Abbot of Bodhinyana Monastery in Serpentine, Perth. He was a pupil of the famous Thai forest monk Ajahn Chah, considered the best Theravada meditation teacher in the last century. By his own choice, Ajahn Brahmavamso shortened his name and was extra pleased that the initials represent the major religions of the world. He is renowned world-wide as an outstanding meditation bhikkhu, teacher and instructor, guiding thousands of practitioners.

As in previous visits, Ajahn Brahm’s schedule will be packed with addresses, meetings with senior professionals, business leaders, and researchers. This year, a special session has been included for teenagers and young adults.

The agenda planned for him includes:

Public address at the BMICH to all irrespective of religion and age; then to a younger audience.

· Exclusive Leadership Forum for senior professionals and business leaders.

· Forum with academics engaged in research at the Centre for Meditation Research, University of Colombo.

· A week-long meditation retreat for the Ven Sangha and experienced lay meditators.

Public Addresses

The public addresses will be on Sunday, May 18, 2025, from 7:00 am to 11:00 am, at the BMICH Main Hall and Sirimavo Halls; Ajahn Brahm moving from one hall to another so the entire audience sees him. Each hall will be well equipped with audio and video presentation. The first address: The Art of Meaningful Living, is designed for all, age notwithstanding, offering wisdom and practical insights for a fulfilling life. The second: Coping with Life Transitions and Emotional Challenges, is a special session tailored for teens and young adults, addressing key challenges faced by them in today’s fast-paced, competitive world. Both talks will be in English, with concise translation to Sinhala by Ven Damita Thera.

Exclusive Forums

On Saturday, May 17, 2025, two exclusive forums will be held at the BMICH Committee Room, Jasmine Hall. The first such session will be with eighty invited Sri Lankan academics and scientists engaged in research on meditation at the Centre for Meditation Research of the University of Colombo. This will be followed in the evening by an interactive session for a hundred invited senior professionals and business leaders, featuring a talk on leadership followed by a Q&A session.

Meditation Retreat

The most significant item on Ajahn Brahm’s programme will be a week-long meditation retreat at the Barberyn Waves Ayurveda Resort in Weligama. Focus is intended to be on the fifty members of the Ven Sangha. A limited number of experienced lay meditators will also have the opportunity to participate.

Participation & Registration

Those interested in attending the public talks at the BMICH are kindly advised to register at to secure free passes. For further information, please contact the Ajahn Brahm Society of Sri Lanka at .