The Hon. G.G. Ponnambalam

¶ 01 You earlier said I had 14 minutes remaining.

¶ 02 Next, as the Hon. Minister Ramalingam Chandrasekar, Chairman of the 000 (committee), is here, I wish to say a few words. At the last DCC meeting he said Rs. 500 million had been specially allocated for Jaffna and sought our views on how to spend it. I thank him, but this is not the correct approach.

¶ 03 Hon. Presiding Member, the North, having lagged 30 years due to war and due to successive governments’ policy decisions, sanctions, and so on, has a very weak economy. To rebuild such a region requires comprehensive planning and coordinated effort. A proper needs assessment must be done to identify where and what the needs are, and then funds should be allocated accordingly. Simply stating “Rs. 500 million” in a meeting and asking, “What do you want to do?” is not proper. Is that how this Government plans to proceed? If your aim is not to collect views and make proper decisions but merely to ask and then proceed, the answers you get on the spot will not be substantive; you know that.

¶ 04 In such a context, the intent seems to be to retain discretion over spending rather than genuinely rebuild and strengthen the people’s economy. I repeat what I said in the Second Reading debate: to develop the war-affected North and East that lagged for around 30 years, at minimum a proper needs assessment must be done, and allocations should follow from that.