The present Port City Bill has more distortions than, what we expected Former State Minister and SJB Parliamentarian Harsha DeSilva told Parliament.
This is not the bill that we agreed upon, the Prime Minister introduced a bill previously based on our amendments but, alas somebody in the Presidential Secretariat had brought out a piece of legislation to which we are unable to agree he said.
The Prime minister and we agreed on an earlier draft but this is a complete departure from that original draft. The Supreme Court in its determination has shot down certain provisions using the term “Obnoxious” and suggested many amendments to make it more compatible with the provisions of the Constitution.
As the opposition, we are not against Port City we also believe that it could be an implementation where the country could make leaps and bounds in economic growth, but it should have proper Parliamentary control including its oversight committees. Parliament is responsible for the finances of the country and it cannot abdicate its functions and we are happy to note that the Supreme Court has made this point clearly and said that many provisions in the bill in its present form are unconstitutional. he added
The Chinese company has invested a sum of US$1.4 billion and the people in this country- the taxpayers, though the government is reluctant to announce had spent a similar amount over US$ one billion to provide infrastructure facilities for the port city including a road built under the Galle Face Oceanfront and a highway running on pillars to make easy access to the Port City. The port city would function as a financial centre providing services and it should be open to all.
De Silva tracing the history described how President J.R Jayewardene initiated the first-ever Special Economic Zone under the greater Colombo Economic Commission (GCEC) Act. He said he was tabling in Parliament documents where the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe mooted the Colombo Port City in 2002. It is almost twenty years now. He acknowledged that President Mahinda Rajapaksa signed an agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping for the construction of the Colombo Port City under that agreement China had a freehold of a large extent of land which the Ranil Wickremesinghe government changed to a ninety-nine-year lease in 2017 since the earlier arrangement was unfavourable for the country. Through the re-negotiated agreement, we increased our stake to 57% from 53% agreed by the Rajapaksa government.
A committee was appointed in 2017 to look into the modalities of the Colombo Port city of which I was the chairman and we agreed that it should function under the BOI law and the activities are centralized in one window .he said
When it came up before the Supreme Court there was hardly any time to discuss the bill, the democratic space available for such activity shrunk without any concern under the 20th amendment, There was only a single day available for the parties concerned to file action. He said.
The Supreme Court however dealt a blow to the bill and determined that many provisions are unconstitutional and cannot be passed in the present form.
However, Harsha De Silva said the SJB would support the bill provided that their amendments are accommodated.
At the outset of the proceedings before Prime Minister presented the Bill to Parliament the opposition asked for clarifications whether the amendments suggested by the Supreme Court would be accommodated. The Prime Minister replying said that all the amendments would be incorporated accordingly.
At that stage, Anura Dissanayake of the JVP asked for copies of the amended bill to which Justice Minister Ali Sabry replied that the amended bill will be made available by noon.
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa introducing the bill in Parliament outlined the importance of the CPEC bill for the economic progress of the country. He took swipes at the present opposition saying that when they were in government they were sitting on it without making it a reality. He said that in 2014 he was responsible as the then President to initiate the Colombo Port City along with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
