Talk of toppling the Yahapalana government is but a play to the gallery, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said.
The Prime Minister was briefing the media at Temple Trees on the second stage of the government’s development framework ‘A Balagathu Sri Lankawa’, yesterday evening.
“A Balagathu Sri Lankawa’ is a framework dealing with the government’s plans for development and issues connected with the process,” the Prime Minister explained.
“Former-President Mahinda Rajapaksa was aiming for the post of Prime Minister. But soon, he will be in a state where he has to fight for his seat in Parliament.” the Premier said while pointing out that the new development framework is to focus on the southern region as a primary economic corridor.
The PM also said, with major development projects and a boosting of employment in the south, especially in the Hambantota area, Rajapaksa and his followers will not be able to secure a single seat in the Hambantota District in an election.
He further said that Rajapaksa along with the Joint Opposition is trying to stop foreign investors coming into the country by making up stories about political instability and toppling of the government.
“The comments by Rajapaksa on becoming the Prime Minister soon, was just news made up for the Christmas season, where there wasn’t much political activity ,”the Prime Minister said.
Prime Minister Wickremesinghe also pointed out it was not him who gave out the Colombo Port City to China on free hold.
“I am not the one who tried to divide the Malwathu sector. I am not the one who planned attacks on the Dalada Maligawa. Rajapaksa took loans and let the public pay them on his behalf ,” he said.
“The two parties in the National Unity Government are the two leading parties in Sri Lanka. Therefore, it is but natural for them to have disagreements. They will argue with each other and that’s the end of the story. The government, I can assure, is politically quite stable. People appointed Maithripala Sirisena as the President and me as the Prime Minister with high hopes.” he further said.
Speaking on the development framework, the Premier said the only way out from the economic deadlock that the country is in, is but to develop ourselves.
“But how do we do that,”he questioned.
“We are, after all, a small country. We haven’t got the markets of China or India. So we have to use our country’s strategic location which is in the fastest growing economic zone in Asia. With this strategic location, we could become a center of communication, for shipping, airlines, logistics and business.” the Premier stressed .
“Then we can expand our market through free trade agreements into the GSP+, China Free Trade Agreement, ECTA and Singapore, all with which, we could get around a market of 4000 million dollars. We shall not focus only on apparel, but on electronics, manufactured goods, IT services, tourism,” he explained .
“Last year we had two main issues. The first one was the high national debt. We have spoken with the IMF and come up with a programme for economic stabilisation, planned for the next two years. The next issue is the imbalance in expenses and income. Our incomes are insufficient to cover our expenses.” the PM said.
The Premier said; “ with ‘A Balagathu Lankawa’ the government is planning to bring foreign investments worth 50 billion or more dollars.
“In 2017, the government is expecting to receive 2-3 billion dollar worth of foreign investments,” he said.
“We are hoping that young Sri Lankan professionals will receive a monthly income of 300 dollars within the next five years, the Prime Minister said.
He also said that, concerning the social development, the government is to make 13 years of school education to be compulsory.
Asked on the Development (Special Provisions) Bill,the Prime Minister said said that the it was introduced to clear the legal blocks that discourage the foreign investments.
“The Bill was sent to the Provincial Councils in order to get them into this process. We do not need to remove their powers. We only wanted them to cooperate with us.” the Premier added.