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World Bank under fire for backing project to reap short-term profit at the expense of forests

Published

4 years ago

2022/09/15

By Rathindra Kuruwita

Some Forest Conservation Department officials are more interested in building roads and structures inside protected areas than protecting forests, Sajeewa Chamikara of the Movement for Land and Agricultural Reforms (MONLAR) says.

“These officials are not interested in preventing illegal activities inside protected areas or raising the awareness of those who live near these areas, especially around Sinharaja Forest”, he said.

Ecosystem Conservation and Management Project (ESCAMP), a World Bank mission was a case in point, Chamikara said, alleging that it sought to develop forests as tourism centres.

“During the first part of the ESCAMP, forest conservation, officials developed roads at the Kudawa entrance. They constructed a two-kilometre road with a width of 10 feet, through Sinharaja. They even put waterlines in. A large number of freshwater crabs and amphibians lost their habitats and breeding grounds because of these constructions. We don’t see some animals like the Kangaroo lizard and the Sri Lankan green pit viper in that area anymore”, he said.

Chamikara added that the roads constructed under ESCAMP could not even be used by tourists anymore because they were slippery. At certain times forest conservation officials allow vehicles on these roads. “There are earth slips along the road and further constructions have been made to stop this”, he said.

Despite the failure of the first leg of the ESCAMP project, forest conservation officials were trying to build an eight-foot road from another entrance in the Kudawa area to the research centre in the forest, Chamikara said.He said that the proposed road would go through an area that had a lot of ferns and a number of indigenous species.

“There are also many small and micro species in this area as well. We will lose them. When swaths of forests are cleared a number of invasive species find their way into Sinharaja. Plants like Koster’s Curse (Dillenia suffruticosa) have already invaded Sinharaja. Endemic orchids, ferns, moss and many plants in the forest undergrowth have been run over. This also affects animals that depend on these plants. Sinharaja is a very sensitive and interconnected biological hotspot. Change made in one place will affect the entire system,” Chamikara said.

Chamikara said that a similar set of incidents had taken place in the Knuckles Forest Range and a number of endemic species to Knuckles were now slowly becoming extinct. “The World Bank projects like ESCAMP are aimed at short-term profit over long term sustainability,” he said.

“We are not against tourism, which is a vital source of revenue. However, you need to build tourist accommodation outside forests. Extremely sensitive forest areas must not be opened to tourists. We talk a lot about attracting quality tourists who spend a lot of money. There are tourists who spend thousands of dollars a night on nature tourism, but such individuals also like nature. They won’t come into a place where their patronage will lead to environmental destruction”, Chamikara said, adding that Sri Lanka was a party to many UN biodiversity conventions. “Successive governments talk about achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. However, the entire state mechanism is silent when large swaths of highly important forests, catchment areas and biological hot spots are destroyed to create an access way for tourism.

“Soon these access ways will be used by politicians to build hotels inside Sinharaja. We already see that those who embezzled billions of rupees from the people are now spending these moneys to purchase and renovate hotels in highly sensitive environmental areas.”

Chamikara said that the threat to Sinharaja had been increasing in the past few years. In 2020 and 2021, two circulars had been issued by the government, handing over the management of Other State Forests (OSF) to Divisional/District Secretaries, he said.

“These circulars repealed an earlier circular, 05/2001, which had transferred the management of these lands from the Divisional/District Secretaries to the Forest Department. Through circular 1/2020, the OSF were brought under Divisional/Districts Secretaries and circular 1/2021 allowed the officials to survey the OSF and allocate them for development activities. The power these two circulars granted to Divisional/Districts Secretaries has been used by those with political and financial power to clear up forest lands in Sinharaja,” he said.

Minister of Agriculture, Wildlife and Forest Resources Conservation, Mahinda Amaraweera said that he was not aware of this development and would look into it.

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Six Foreign Envoys Present Credentials to President Dissanayake

Published

35 mins ago

2026/04/21

Priyan

Two High Commissioners, three Ambassadors and an Apostolic Nuncio-designate of the Holy See presented their credentials to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake at the Presidential Secretariat this morning (20).

The ceremony, held at 10.00 a.m., followed the formal order of precedence, with the envoys representing Papua New Guinea, Somalia, Luxembourg, the Holy See, Pakistan and Kuwait.

Accordingly, diplomats who presented their credentials were:

01. Vincent Sumale, High Commissioner-designate of Papua New Guinea (Based in New Delhi)

02. Abdullahi Mohammed Odowa, Ambassador-designate of Somalia (Based in New Delhi)

03. Christian Biever, Ambassador-designate of Luxembourg (Based in New Delhi)

04. Monsignor Andrzej Józwowicz, Apostolic Nuncio-designate of the Holy See

05. Major General (Retd) Nayyar Naseer, High Commissioner-designate of Pakistan

06. Saleh Mubarak Al-Sarawi, Ambassador-designate of Kuwait

Following the presentation of credentials, the President engaged in a cordial discussion with them. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism, Vijitha Herath, and the Secretary to the President, Dr Nandika Sanath Kumanayake, were also in attendance.

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Rs 13 bn NDB fraud: Int’l forensic audit ordered

Published

10 hours ago

2026/04/21

Thilina Walpola

The National Development Bank PLC (NDB), in consultation with the Central Bank, will soon appoint an international firm to conduct a comprehensive forensic audit into the Rs 13.2 billion bank fraud, currently being investigated by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

Controversy surrounds the failure on the part of relevant authorities to detect the massive scam that certain employees started perpetrating in mid-2024.

Declaring that day-to-day developments, relating to the NDB PLC, were under scrutiny, the Central Bank said that the NDB, in consultation with CBSL, was in the process of finalising arrangements to engage a leading international firm, with experts from overseas, to conduct a comprehensive forensic audit into the incident.

The Central Bank stated: “The scope of this audit will apart from matters directly related to the commission of this fraud, also fully address and assess any failures on compliance with regulatory requirements on control, oversight and governance during the period in which the fraudulent transactions took place. The forensic audit is expected to commence shortly, and its progress, including any interim findings as well as the final report, will be submitted directly to CBSL who will directly engage with the auditors to the extent considered necessary during the audit.

In parallel, CBSL has directed NDB to take immediate and expeditious measures to strengthen its internal controls and governance processes, with particular focus on addressing identified lapses. NDB has also been required to commission an independent third-party review to assess the adequacy and effectiveness of its policies, procedures, systems, and internal controls.

NDB continues to meet all regulatory requirements relating to capital and liquidity. CBSL remains in close and continuous engagement with the Board and management of NDB, as well as other relevant stakeholders, and stands ready to take any further measures necessary to safeguard the interests of depositors and ensure the stability of the financial system. There is no evidence of any other regulated financial institution suffering any loss arising from the incident at NDB and the public are requested not to be misled by any statements to the contrary made in various fora.”

NDB board directors include Sujeewa Mudalige – former Managing Partner of PwC / Past President of CA Sri Lanka, Hasitha Premaratne – Managing Director of Brandix Group, Shanil Fernando – founding member of Virtusa Corporation and Co-Founder of Sysco Labs, Bernard Sinniah – former Managing Director of Citibank and Kasturi Chellaraja – former Group CEO of Hemas Holdings PLC.

The external auditors of NDB Bank PLC is Ernst & Young.

Meanwhile, the Committee on Public Finance (CoPF) that recently met under the Chairmanship of Member of Parliament Dr. Harsha de Silva observed, with serious concern, that there appear to have been considerable lapses in corporate governance at the bank, deficiencies in supervision by the relevant departments of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, and undue delays in the reporting of material information.

The Committee firmly underscored that such shortcomings are unacceptable and directed that immediate corrective measures be undertaken. It further emphasised that it will continue to closely monitor this matter and exercise stringent oversight to ensure full accountability, transparency, and the safeguarding of public confidence in the financial system.

The NDB issue was dealt with when the Governor of the Central Bank Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe, along with members of the Governing Board, the Monetary Policy Board, and senior officials, attended the meeting as part of the Central Bank’s statutory presentation to Parliament conducted once every four months.

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Easter Sunday commemorations

Published

10 hours ago

2026/04/21

Thilina Walpola

Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith and Bishop Anton Ranjith will preside over the Easter Sunday commemoration event at St. Anthony’s Church Kochchikade today (21).

The event will begin at 8.45 am with the ringing of the funeral bell once, followed by two minutes of silence in memory of all victims.

Bishop Maxwell Silva and Bishop J.D. Anthony will lead the prayers at Katuwapitiya St. Sebastian Church where the holy mass is scheduled to commence at 7 am.

A prayer march will begin at Maris Stella College, Negombo, at 4.00 pm, today (21), and end at Katuwapitiya Church where over 100 persons died.