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'Rajapakses mortgaged country to China - debts cannot be liquidated even by repayment for generations' -Mahinda Amaraweera

-Protests are provoked to sacrifice innocent lives!

(Lanka-e-News -06.Jan.2017, 11.30PM)    The  loan taken from China to build the Hambantota Port (white Elephant ) has driven  the country has into unbearably huge debts  so much so the nation has to repay the loan installments   and interest thereof for many generations , and even  then there is no guarantee that the loan can be liquidated , minister of fisheries and water resources development  Mahinda Amaraweera revealed. 
 
In the year 2016 , Rs. 8640 million was paid . At the end of 2017 , Rs. 9350 million has to be paid . In 2018 , Rs. 9950 million will have to be paid .The minister furnishing details said , in 2019 , Rs. 17360 million ; in 2020 , a sum of Rs.  17060 million ; In 2012 , Rs. 17910 million ;in 2023 , Rs. 17400 million ;in 2024, Rs. 16910 million ;and in 2025 , Rs. 12290 million have to be paid.

The minister made these most  shocking exposures when addressing a media briefing held on the 4 th at  the ministry of fisheries. This media briefing was organized  to explain and elucidate  the latest situation in regard to the Hambantota Port and the Hambantota  Industrial zone .

Explaining further , the minister commented as follows : 

The Hambantota Port will not be sold to China by this government . No such agreements have been signed.  Such an agreement has not been brought to the attention of even to  the ministry Board. But one thing is certain because of the colossal loan taken to build the Hambantota Port , the whole country has been mortgaged to China .

Consequent upon the loan taken to construct the Hambantota Port , the country is obliged to make the following payments …

Rs. 8640 million representing loan installment plus interest thereof in 2016
Rs. 9350 million has to be paid by end of 2017
Rs. 9950 million in 2018
Rs. 17360 million in 2019
Rs.17060 million in 2020
Rs.16650 million in 2021
Rs. 17910 million in 2022
Rs.17400 million in 2023 
Rs. 16910 million in 2024
Rs.12290 million in 2025 

In other words this staggering debt burden  cannot be cleared by our people even via  repayment for generations.

How is so much money going  to be collected to repay this colossal debt? When Mattala Airport and Hambantota Port were being begun the plans did not practically work out . The jobs expected to be generated also did  not materialize. In the least even I did not get a job in the Port. 

Therefore if we are to repay this huge debt burden , we will have to impose more and more taxes. The country cannot progress that way. This was why the government after having discussions with the Chinese government , a joint Chinese – Sri Lanka program was decided , to carry out three projects under the Chinese government aid. 

China has expressed its consent to take over the Hambantota Port , Mattala Airport and the ever breaking down Norochhcholai coal power plant and go ahead. 

Even to construct the Norochcholai coal project , a massive loan has been raised. The repayment of that loan is as follows :

Rs. 17640 million was paid in 2016
Rs. 26870 million must be paid in 2017
Rs. 27180 million must be  paid in 2018
Rs. 34290 million must be  paid in 2019
Rs. 16650 million must be  paid in 2020 
Rs. 16350 million must be  paid in 2021
Rs. 16070 million must be  paid in 2022
Rs. 15780 million must be  paid in  2023
Rs. 15500 million must be  paid in 2024
Rs. 14060 million must be paid in 2025
    
By 2025 , the amount that will have to be paid to the Chinese government for the loan taken will be Rs. 343.86 Billion ! This is hard cash , not cashew nuts or Jak fruit seeds. Yet the country did not gain out of this commensurate with the colossal loans taken in keeping with the expectations. 

Some are propagating malicious and false stories about the Hambantota Port and the proposed Hambantota Industrial zone. They are circulating stories that because of this project , 15000 acres of land belonging to the people are going be acquired, and people in their ancestral lands will be evicted in order to sell those to the Chinese.
  
These stories are absolutely untrue  because 15000 acres of bare  land cannot be found  anywhere  in Hambantota . Only there are bare lands 2000 or 3000 acres in extent. It is such lands that will be used for this Industrial project.  

I spoke with president and on his instructions held discussions with Prime Minister and the cabinet in this connection .They explained clearly  it is only bare land and waste lands in Hambantota which will be used for the project. It has also been decided to utilize bare  lands in Embilipitiya and Matara.

Therefore the stories afloat that people will be  evicted and their lands are going to be sold to the Chinese are baseless and false. I am one who  was born and also had my schooling in Hambantota . Besides , every weekend I am in Hambantota. Any day I die my body too will become part of the soil of Hambantota . Hence I know very well about the lands available in Hambantota .

Some mischief makers under the pretext of false protests are seeking to sacrifice human lives at the altar of selfish gains , according to reports .There is a group trying to stage protests and create conflicts deliberately with the police and the forces . After they are summoned , they want to deliberately risk the lives of innocents . Thereafter carry the dead bodies on their shoulders in order to create violence and a volatile situation in the country .

In the circumstances I request the public not to fall prey to these conspiracies. As  in the past so in the future it will be the people who will suffer.

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by     (2017-01-06 23:28:30)

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