The Hon. Kaveenthiran Kodeeswaran

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, I am pleased to participate in the committee-stage debate on the allocations for the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development.

¶ 02 To rebuild a country’s economy, financial planning must be proper. Every past government failed to manage finance and the economy properly, leading to grave consequences. Today the country is indebted and forced into dependence on others. To strengthen the economy, loans and funds must be used for proper plans—creating jobs and making our nation prosperous. Past allocations to the North and East were very low; even now they remain very low. Many factories closed during the war are still not reopened. The Government has a duty to reopen them and provide employment.

¶ 03 During the “good governance” period, several projects were introduced. In 2016–2017, a mineral sand mining project was brought to Thirukkovil. Thousands protested—not a few, but over 20 protests. Even some in today’s NPP Government voiced opposition then, including in this Parliament, and the project was stopped. Now they seek to conduct a test for mineral sand extraction there. Mining will bring grave consequences: coastal sand dunes could be eroded. In 2004 the tsunamis’ impact was mitigated by those dunes—else more would have died.

¶ 04 Over 15,000 fishers in Thirukkovil would see livelihoods harmed. Mangroves would be destroyed. Fish breeding and spawning cycles in nearby waters will be affected. There are thousands of coconut trees in the area; mining could destroy them. The country already faces a coconut shortage; we must protect coconut trees and avoid imports—yet these trees may be lost.

¶ 05 The Government says it wants to uplift agriculture, but with mining, the adjacent paddy lands risk salinization. There are many other problems, including to tourism: the coastal belt from Pottuvil to Thirukkovil attracts tourists. Thirukkovil lies between sea on one side and river on the other; when river water turns saline, fish fry and rare species perish. Within ten years the area could become a desert. Therefore, do not allow testing there, which is clearly to enable mineral sand mining. A private company, “Damsila,” is set to conduct the testing. The Government should not permit it.

¶ 06 Next, at Vattamadu, pastoralists in Alayadivembu and Thirukkovil depend on 4,000 acres of pasture land. A meeting was held at the Ampara District Secretariat, reportedly led by the NPP-appointed Chairman, proposing to allow farming on part of that land—300 acres. That land was allocated to cattle farmers under permits; do not permit cultivation there. In fact, they need an additional 2,000 acres to sustain milk production. Protect the pastoralists and establish dairy processing facilities there.