I am a strong believer of Corporate Nationalism – Champika

Daily Mirror spoke to JHU General Secretary and Minister of Power and Energy Patali Champika Ranawaka in order to know the JHU stance on the current issues and his plans for the power sector in Sri Lanka.

Q: There’s a school of thought that believes that the silence of the coalition allies has given rise to corruption by certain individuals in the government. What’s your opinion about this criticism?
There’s corruption at all levels and almost all spheres and one cannot single out politicians.
Firstly there are corruptions in small proportions but unrestrained and found at almost all state institutions such as government offices, courts, schools and even at hospitals. The public take them in their stride and do not make much of a fuss about it probably due to the perception that they cannot get done their job without oiling the palm of this and that public official.
Then you find high level financial irregularities, gratuities, commissions and direct bribes at Provincial Council and Pradeshiya Saba level to obtain contracts, tenders and government projects. Both regional level politicians and officials involve in these underhand dealings that involve millions of public funds.
There’s also corruption at the planning and tender awarding stage of major development projects handled by the government. Among those are the accelerated Mahaweli development scheme, hedging deal and ICSL privatization that run to billions of rupees. For instance there was an enormous, unaccountable quotation of cost at the accelerated Mahaweli programme and some one at some point benefited from it.
Then we have seen the VAT fraud that had entirely done by public officials. The collapse of the Ceylinco financial empire and Sakvithi fraud are examples of the corruption at the private sector.
All these have a direct impact on the people and the national at different degrees.
In the 1990s, international donor agencies such as the IMF, ADB and the World Bank took a policy decision against assisting our state ventures resulting in a dwindling of financial resources of essential utility services like the CEB. It was because these negative developments that we had to go for power cuts, some times for 6 hours. The CEB had to pay huge amounts of funds as consultancy costs at the planning stage as a result.
Right now we have three institutions to keep a tab on corruptions and other irregularities and malpractices, Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, the Independent Elections Commission and the Judicial Services Commission. We must accept that there is an uneasy delay in the time between the complaint and action which does not auger well for good governance.
There’s room for improvements at these independent institutions and that is something that needs to be done.
The JHU has influenced good governance decisions in our own way though we do not go public about it. Also by practicing accountability and efficiency at our own ministries and converting them to profitable ventures we have set an example to others.
Q: The JHU is an extension of the middle class and elite nationalist movement started with the National Movement Against Terrorism. Some hold that the role of the nationalist movement is a redundant one in a post-war context while the JHU seems to be directing energies towards economic development. How do you explain this deviation?
No. It is not a deviation. We stood against terrorism right throughout and at the same time endeavoured to protect Buddhism, our culture and the heritage. Now that terrorism has been obliterated from the soil of Sri Lanka have to play a different but equally important role. That is to support the economic progress and make sure that it goes with our values and home based policies. This is exactly what we are doing right now.
I am a strong believer of Corporate Nationalism, which is based on the principle that interests of the corporate sector should be those of the nation as well. The economy should reflect the sovereignty, dignity, desires and aspirations of a nation.
It was through the policies of Corporate Nationalism that Lee Kuan Yew took Singapore to greater heights and Malaysia by Mahathir Mohamed. All new nations like South Korea and Iran have overcome their past economic woes following policies of Corporate Nationalism. The concept of corporate nationalism was encompassed even in the 2000 manifesto of Sihala Urumaya, the forerunner of the JHU.
It was the JHU that introduced five hub concept to the Mahinda Chintana policy framework that aims at making Sri Lanka the wonder of Asia with naval, aviation, commercial, energy and knowledge hubs. It suits our culture and is based on professionalism and is tested for Sri Lanka. The concept ensures sustainable development and a green economy and we are well within the parametres of a start up nation.
The annihilation of the LTTE was only one layer of our strategic plan for the national development. The transformation of our nation into a model state through national development forms a more vital part of our agenda. We are capable of realizing this vision and we have displayed it with our performance at the ministries in the past and present to which we gave leadership.
Q: The JHU was the first party to sign an accord with 2005 Presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapaksa. Do you think that your demands have been met by the president over the past five years?
The key conditions of the agreement were - defeating terrorism and separatism, achieving hounourable peace and preserving unitary character of our motherland.
We also spelt out the need to introducing a national economy, control drug peddling and crimes, re-establishing the rule of law in the country. I can confidently say that we have been able to achieve all these fundamentals by now. We are extremely happy about this.
Q: There seems to be some attempts by former Deputy Minister Mervyn Silva to reclaim his portfolio. As the only Cabinet minister to castigate the MP after he tied a Samurdhi officer to a tree don’t you think a return of him would erode the people’s faith in democracy?
President Mahinda Rajapaksa took disciplinary action against him and stripped him of his portfolio and suspended party membership. We expect discipline from the top to bottom of the government structure. Not only the politicians but officials and the public must have exercise discipline at all levels.
When you demand discipline from politicians, I do not expect you to dump garbage on the road side or grab state land illegally. To expect collective discipline from all sections of the society we need a cultural and attitudinal change from all.
I have done my part in this regard when I served as the Minister of Environment. I have introduced necessary legislation to protect environment with fines for those who pollute the environment. We are enjoying the dividends of these actions today and no one dumps solid waste haphazardly in the open or roadside like in the past.
As for Mervyn Silva I hope saner counsel will prevail.
Q: Having a strong opposition is a must for democracy as it helps to put the government on the right track. What changes do you suggest to the UNP and the JVP?
It is sad that the UNP still follows a dictatorial path. The Republicans in the US and Conservatives in the UK, the two political parties with liberal policies that the UNP is said to be following have taken pains to preserve national heritage and traditions. They have opposed terrorism.
But the UNP is a far cry from these two political parties which opt for innovation, diverse ideas and progressive policies. The UNP hangs on to neo liberal policies and distanced itself from cultural, religious and traditional values of the masses. It depends on the funding and the ideologies of the NGOs.
The UNP under the current leadership does not have a future as its policies do not meet the thinking of the public.
The JVP on the other hand hangs on to obsolete, archaic ideologies.
I do not know how long it will take for the JVP to realize that Bolshevism and Marxism and leftist revolutions are history. They do not stand a chance in the contemporary global politics. It is because of their own folly that the UNP and the JVP cannot adapt to the requirements of the modern society. Both the UNP and the JVP will not have a future unless they depart from politics of dissent and go for a complete overhaul of policies.
Q: Your party is a strong advocate of the Executive Presidency. What is your party’s stand on the move to give unlimited terms to president?
Only the JHU had a firm and unwavering policy on the executive presidency from the very beginning. We maintained that President should respect the parliament mandate and should not have the power to dissolve it arbitrarily. He is not above the law and answerable to the judiciary. But we have no issue on the number of terms he can contest or hold office.
What we think is that as long as a President commands the trust and confidence of the voter he can continue as the President. We have several recent examples to this effect. The UNP candidate was defeated at the 1994 Presidential election held under the Presidency of late D.B. Wijetunga. The UNP was elected to power in 2001 under Chandrika Kumaratunga. These political events show that the number of terms a President can hold is not an issue.
Q: Many wanted you to continue as Minister of Environment after your achievements as the subject minister. Were you disappointed when you were not allowed to continue the work you initiated?
Some 20 years ago I introduced the first green political movement in this country, ‘Janatha Mithuro’ as I saw what was coming and the need to fight the global catastrophe. Today the entire world is opting for green energy concept as the fossil fuel resources are depleting daily. The growing scarcity of fossil fuel has compelled us to turn to alternative energy. Burning of fossil fuel for power generation has brought us many ills with rising of the sea levels and temperatures, melting down of glaciers, droughts and floods threatening human survival.
So you see, Environment and Power and Energy are two interrelated topics.
While I am quite nostalgic about my days at the Environment and Natural Resources Ministry I know that I need to evolve. The CEB is a vital tool of the national economy. If we can transform it to a profit making venture, the entire nation will benefit.
Q: Nearly three months have passed since you took over the Power and Energy portfolio. What is your impression about the new ministry?
We are facing three crises today - financial, structural and social issues due to negative public attitude. We have identified our problems and their root causes and introduced short term plans to mitigate their negative impact and medium and long term plans are well underway to come out of the crisis.
On the financial front, we cannot control the escalation of fuel prices. But we can control or minimize management, operational and maintenance costs and that is what we are doing right now under three short, medium and long term programmes that run up to next 2 to 3 decades.
Under this strategic plan costly thermal power plants are to be transformed into low cost plants. All nine Independent Power Producers are to be retired in the next five years.
We have plans for renewable energy and the target is to produce at least 1,000 MWs by 2020 using solar, wind, mini hydro and dendro power sources.
To make the CEB more consumer- friendly I have introduced the Call Center concept for consumers to lodge complaints or air their grievances round the clock. The telephone numbers are 1987 – CEB, 1910 – LECO and 1901 – Ministry. Besides, there going to be consumer societies in all provinces with one society for each and every Electrical Engineer Division. In addition the Public Utilities Commission is also looking after the rights of the consumer.The Power and Energy Ministry will complete 4,593 Rural Electricity Projects island wide by 2012 at a cost of Rs. 39 billion as per our plan to provide power to all by that year.The alternative energy resources such as solar power, wind power and mini hydro power sources will be utilized to supply power for the poorest sections of the society and those who are unable to get electricity from the national grid.
Soft loan schemes are in place with the assistance of the Samurdhi Banks for the poor to get electricity connection up to Rs. 30,000 payable in 6 years and to be deducted through the electricity bill. Facilities are also being introduced to pay electricity bills online and through mobile phones. Smart Meters and Wet Meters system will provide further facilities to the consumer and give an opportunity to produce electricity at domestic level using renewable energy and sell excess power to the national grid.
Q: There had been strong criticism about the role of certain engineers and officials on CEB tender boards for long. It is said there’s a mafia operating in tender boards, monopolizing tender procedure and offering the tenders only to their favourites leading to gross corruption. How do you plan to address this issue?
Yes, there are allegations on the issues like finalizing of estimates, offering tenders to favourites and to a selected lot, preparing estimates by tenderer himself etc.
All these alleged malpractices started after the move to outsource the functions of the CEB with the completion of the accelerated Mahaweli programme. However, now we have decided to do away with that plan and the CEB will attend to all its activities and minimize corruption.
To make CEB a more transparent entity an independent review body has been set up at the Moratuwa University. After we got the opinion of this body, we expect to set up a permanent independent body to deal with the CEB activities.
Q: There’s a strong trade union presence in the CEB and you are also known as a no-nonsense minister. Are we to expect fireworks soon?
We have good rapport with the trade unions and decisions are taken after consulting their opinion. A merit based score card system will be introduced shortly to address the issue of transfers, promotions and recruitments sans outside pressure. All employees – top level managers to minor employees - of the CEB will be absorbed into this system to streamline the administrative system. Nobody will complain of favouritism or red tape after the introduction of this system.
Q: You are on record that the consumers have been over burdened due to the deals that previous regimes had entered into with private power generators. Are you planning to review them?
Yes indeed. The eight agreements that have been signed by the CEB with IPPs are highly detrimental to the country, consumer and the CEB. The CEB spends Rs. 90 billion out of its total annual income of Rs. 120 billion to purchase power from PPPs. Rs. 15 billion out of Rs. 90 Billion is paid as Capacity Charges to PPPs whether the CEB purchases power or not. The CEB expects to retire costly thermal power plants and give up purchasing of power from PPPs, thus preventing the payment of Capacity Charges by 2016 and to introduce low cost plants.
Q: The cost of electricity has been attributed to many factors. What do you think about Sri Lanka’s potential in renewable energy?
The high generation cost is a big burden on the CEB. In 1980 it cost only 18 cents to produce a unit of electricity and today its cost Rs. 18. We could have done better without thermal power if past regimes commissioned power projects such as Kerawalapitiya coal power plant, Upper Kotmale and Kukule Ganga hydropower project, or Trincomalee coal power plant on time. The postponements and in some cases total abandoning due to political, religious and social reasons has created a huge gap at the rate of power generation and the demand. Even the public has contributed to this set back due to gullibility and other reasons.
The estimated loss to the CEB in 2010 is Rs. 40 billion. The PUSL is contemplating on introducing cost reflecting bill by next year benefiting low-income groups. A new tariff system will also be in place by next year and a tariff committee is attending to it. .
Sri Lanka has a huge potential to utilize renewable energy sources such as solar power, wind power, mini hydropower, dendro power etc. We have a plan to give incentives for those who start alternative / renewable power projects.
Special incentives are on offer for mini hydropower schemes. Plans are also there to produce solar power in bulk and add to the national grid. The use of dendro as a renewable energy source too is to be popularized.
Q: Atomic Energy Authority which was earlier under the Ministry of Science and Technology was offered to you on your appointment as Minister of Power and Energy. Do you have any plans to use nuclear power as a source of energy?
No immediate plans, but a steering committee has been appointed to look into it. All options to make Sri Lanka sustainable in power and energy as well as the development of renewable / alternative energy are on the cards.(Daily mirror)