The Hon. M. Nizam Kariapper, PC

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Chairperson of Committees, once again the government grabs a small piece of a bigger agenda.

¶ 02 Regarding maritime safety, the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) dates to 1974. For an island nation like Sri Lanka, we need a Chief Hydrographic Officer empowered to control navigation safety in our waters—much like toll enforcement and oversight on highways by the Road Development Authority.

¶ 03 Sri Lanka’s maritime zone is vast. Years ago, the UN recognized a greatly expanded maritime area for us, but due to obstacles by successive governments we did not capitalize. Control over every vessel entering our waters belongs to the hydrographic authority. Yet President J.R. Jayewardene temporarily handed this to NARA. NARA in turn outsourced to two private foreign companies. From 1975 to 2014, these companies collected fees from vessels entering our charted sectors—there are 27 charts—charging USD 25 automatically per entry, as on an expressway. They had no right to this revenue; the State must ensure safety with the Navy and provide the charts. Since NARA failed to prepare charts, it handed work to two foreign firms, which collected all the money.

¶ 04 In 2024, then Justice Minister President’s Counsel Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe brought the National Hydrographic Act, No. 7 of 2024, appointing a National Hydrographer and establishing a Council, with a Rear Admiral appointed. But we still lack the complete charts.

¶ 05 To prepare charts we need echo sounders. Australia gave us shallow-water equipment, and shallow-water charts are done. For deep water, we need equipment costing USD 0.7 million. Three years have passed without funding. Why? Once we have full charts, every vessel entering our waters must pay USD 25, yielding about USD 51 million per year. For 40 years we failed to earn this. When Dr. Wijeyadasa brought the Act, some NARA officials went to the Supreme Court to block it—ask who orchestrated that and why; this corruption diverted USD 51 million annually from the Treasury to private hands.

¶ 06 The National Hydrographic Council and Hydrographer still lack equipment. I urge immediate allocation of USD 0.7 million so we can earn USD 51 million annually. We support today’s Bill and commend it, but also ask you to complete these remaining tasks.