• Professor Hewavitharana's Economic Critique of the Devolution Package
• The need for a Co-ordinated National Development Plan

Professor Hewavitharana's Economic Critique of the Devolution Package
Dr. Piyasena Dissanayake,
Prof. K. N. O. Dharmadasa.

A book of rare merit, virtually a landmark in the relevant field of study, has been with us for some time stirring our conscience, changing and creating opinion among the intelligentsia of this country, all in a sober and dignified manner. This is the "Economic Consequences of the Development Package", authored by Professor Buddhadasa Hewavitharana, Senior Professor of Economics, Peradeniya University. This book has accomplished the remarkable feat of going out of its first print and having had to go into a second print even before arrangements could be made for it to be formally launched. The reason for the time lag is getting this book translated into Sinhala and having it published. It was Professor Hewavitharana's wish that at any cost the launching of both the English and the Sinhala versions should take place at the same time.

It is by any standards a very scholarly work. It conveys the deep insights that the author has been able to develop through analysis of practically all the aspects of this question of what the consequences would be for Sri Lanka's economy if the devolution package were to be adopted. The fact that it is the outcome of painstaking and dedicated hard work, evidently a labour of love of the Professor, would become patently clear to any one reading it. We have met people who after reading the book were profoundly impressed by the wholesomeness and the relevance of its messages. It is within our knowledge that the book has already captured the imagination of many readers abroad especially the Sri Lankans in U.K. and U.S.A. We also know that many an economist and other intellectuals who are in public service and therefore cannot express their views openly on the Package have heaved sighs of relief now that Professor Hewavitharana has spoken out on what they themselves would have wanted to say.

The presentation sometimes in the question and answer format, other times as analyses of and discussions on issues and laced with case studies and illustrative examples which can be very entertaining, is one that will surely make the book readable and understandable to most readers regardless of their disciplines. The five addition chapters on Decentralised Development are a treat to any one interested in rural development of this country.

It has been acclaimed by local reviewers. Here are three extracts -

"Challenging and stimulating book.... first time offers a detailed economic critique of the devolution package".

"The Professor raises several highly pertinent questions concerning the devolution package..... the difficulties raised should not be under-estimated. For the social scientists, it is a must".

In Sunday Island, 9-11-'97.
"the author substantiates his case with a brilliant analysis of the political economy of development in Sri Lanka. prof. Buddhadasa Hewavitharana is no ivory tower academic".

"it is to be hoped that... Government's economic advisers and economists at the Central Bank will be able to respond to these arguments with the kind of intellectual rigour that the author has amply displayed".

In Sunday Island, 27-12-'97.
"Professor Hewavitharana has meticulously looked into every possible facet of the likely economic consequences of the proposed devolution of power...."

"Written in an easy question and answer format, that makes the contents accessible to economists and non-economists alike".

In Sunday times, 3-5-'98.
It is a work of great honesty, sincerity and clarity of thought. One has only to read the breathtakingly fresh and mind stirring introduction which virtually blazes the trail for this bold and daring study. There we see the conscience-stricken Development Economist in the Professor raising his voice of sanity over the cacophony of the tower of Babel that now seems to be prevailing over this question of the Package. We see every day people running hither and thither pontificating on the Package, twisting their arguments this way and that way, contradicting themselves on what they had said earlier or making mindless assertations and giving glib assurances which are insulting to the intelligence of the public. Professor Hewavitharana's sharp logic pierces through all this darkness like a powerful beam of light. Says he, "Economic laws are like electricity, you simply can't cheat them".

As a hallmark of sincerity one would also note the dedication made by Professor Hewavitharana of his book to a pauper, his uncle, dead and gone 42 years ago like (as he says) took him to school and told him village tales. The author is a man who had been made of such a mind, could have dedicated his book to any of the many elites and the prominent personalities who are his close associates and friends in order to add "prestige" to his book. Instead his sense of gratitude and sincerity made him choose his pauperised and humble but helpful uncle. The cover of the book is in very good taste with a section of a 12th century map of the world containing Ceylon, which by itself is of educational value. This design chosen by the author himself has benefited from artistic advice from his good friend, the reputed artist, Mr. Stanley Kirinde.

Professor Buddhadasa Hewavitharana, who holds a doctorate from the L.S.E., has been closely associated with the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford in the capacity of Visiting Fellow. He with 43 years as a University teacher, mostly in Development Economics and Development Planning is the foremost economist of this country. His many publications have won him international recognition. He combines academic knowledge with a long and varied practical involvement at high level in public affairs; a rare and a most fruitful combination for an economist.

The launching of this book together with its Sinhala version, "Balaya Bedahareeme Yojanawaliye Arthika Prathiwipake", is due to take place shortly.

The need for a Co-ordinated National Development Plan
by A. T. G. A. Wickramasuriya

During the last couple of years there have been more than ever before, reports in the newspapers on projects relating to several major works to be carried out in the coastal region. Some of these are already under construction. Apart from the observations and comments that can be made on these, there are three important questions that I wish to raise.

Firstly:- the public organisation or organisations on whom the responsibility for the success or failure of the project for which such works are proposed devolves.

Secondly:- the responsibility of the Ministry of Planning and Plan Implementation to ensure that the projects do not clash, but fit into an overall plan of sustainable development on the one hand and make a meaningful input to the socio economic development of the country.

Thirdly:- that the projects undertaken give due priority to the needs of the majority of the people, while narrowing the gap between the haves and the have-nots.

Distant Past
About fifty years back, Sri Lanka like most developing countries, did have development plans covering about ten years at a time. The scope of these plans aimed at development projects required at a national level, as well as smaller schemes required at regional levels and minor ones at village level. Priorities in their execution was determined largely on the contributions that could be derived for food production, employment generation and better facilities and conditions of living for the many landless and homeless people.

Despite the changes in the government that took place even during the early stages after Independence, there was a degree of consistency on the policies selecting to land, water and housing development. Apart from the restoration and colonisation that was carried out on the major irrigation schemes, the manner in which the local professionals and others carried out the necessary investigations, plans and designs and thereafter directed and supervised the construction work carried out by a foreign contractors on a project like the Gal Oya bear ample testimony of the professional competence and skills that were available at that time. Judging by the present situations in the planning, co-ordination and execution of similar works the picture is totally different.

Mid Nineteen sixties
By the mid nineteen sixties, the development activities had increased to an extent that made it necessary to ensure co-ordination of the work of the public bodies involved in the various sectors of development, within the ambit of a national plan. A step taken by the government of that time was to establish a writ under the ministry of planning and economic affairs, to monitor operations. The necessary information was called quarterly from the departments concerned, charts prepared and maintained in a specially equipped room, named 'National Operations Room'. The objects and functions etc. of this can be gathered from the following statement made by Mr. Dudley Senanayake which appears in the booklet that was issued to the departments.

In setting up the National Operations Room, the Government is placing the emphasis on implementation and the achievement of planned objectives. It is yet another significant step in organising the efforts in all sectors of the economy in a consistent national development drive.

The National Operations Room has numerous uses and will be effective in different ways at different levels. At the simplest level it will function as a centre of up to date information on all the important development programmes and projects in the country. The flow of information required by the Operations Room will by itself bring its inherent discipline into the development activities in the various Sectors: it will help to organise these activities in terms of well formulated programmes and projects with clear objectives, definite targets of achievement and firm time schedules for their realisation.

In this manner, the Operation Room will function as the focal point for a continues survey and evaluation of the development scene in the country. On the one hand, at the level of implementation, the system will ensure that problems of implementation will surface immediately they occur, compel decisions from the appropriate decision making authorities, and where necessary receive support for the speedy solution of problems at the highest policy making level. On the other, the processes of planning and policy formulation will draw on the lessons to be learnt from actual performance and relate themselves more firmly to the operational levels.

I have no doubt that the Operations Room properly maintained and developed could become a unique instrument for the management of a national development programme, and the regulation of the activities of the economy. I hope that it will succeed from its commencement in demonstrating that each programme and project is a part of a total development effort, and that executing departments and other agencies are members of a national development team with a common objective.

The Booklet also contains statements by Mr. Gamani Corea, Perm Sec. and Mr. Godfrey Gunatillake, Director of Plan Implementation and others for the guidance of the officers concerned.

Publications
As before, in addition to the notices that approach in the Govt. Gazette on matters relating to Land Acquisition, it had been the practice even during the nineteen sixties for the government to publish in a concise form, reports on development projects envisaged. Such reports were available freely or at a nominal cost even to the public sessional paper XXI and XXVI of 1966 are examples. These relate to the Reclamation of swamps in Colombo primarily for housing and at Muthurajawela for multi-purposes, which included employment generation in the sectors of agriculture, fisheries, small scale industries and housing as well. The possibility of a road alongside the Dutch Canal to link Colombo with Katunayake Airport was also suggested for further study. The last para of the recommendations made in the above sessional paper states thus 'finally we strongly recommend fully investigating the feasibility of making the Dutch Land Bund Road a motorbus roadway linking Colombo to Katunayake. This will not only serve as a link between Colombo and the Airport, but also contribute to the further development of the Muthurajawela area. We can foresee no unsurmoutable engineering problems in its execution. No major acquisition is likely to be involved. But its execution at a comparatively little extra cost sense possible'.

The project for Colombo included the reclamation of bid in the northern port of the city.

A part of it was Maligawatta. The drainage of this area to the sea was through the tunnel constructed by the I.D. under the scehme designed and carried out by this department during the nineteen twenties, to protect the city and surroundings from the flood waters of the Kelani Ganga. In 1966 Mr. R. Premadasa the then Minister of Local Govt. and Housing, with the concurrence of the I.D. got the approval of the Cabinet sub committee chaired by Mr. J. R. Jayewardene, Minister of State, attended by the other Ministers directly involved in the sceheme, to commence reclamation and development works at Maligawatta on a 40 acre block of land. The objects of the project were achieved within one year. The flats that were erected enabled the squatters in and around Wanathamulla to be provided with housing and other facilities for decent living. The same cannot be said of the manner in which reclaimed land was allocated towards the latter part of the nineteen eighties, to some of the high ranking officers in the public service and at prices far below the market values prevailing at that time. It is shocking to find that a scheme on which work started as far back as 1966, to make Colombo 'Flood Free' remains incomplete, even todate, particularly so in respect of the two most important items of construction work, viz:- diversion of the entry of flood waters from the upper reaches and its speedy exist to the sea remains to be done. This too reflects back of responsibility in respect of priorities in the implementation of a project initiated and approved for execution by the Govt. One reason for this unsatisfactory performance is lack of co-ordination between public organisations.

Conclusions
Why is there a difference in the planning and implementation of major development projects in the country prior to the nineteen seventies and thereafter?

The causes have now reached a climax and the reasons are quite obvious.

(1) The public being kept in ignorance without necessary and sufficient publications by the Govt. on Major projects to be undertaken, as was done in the past.

(2) Lack of proper investigations and planning.

(3) Charges that take place in Personal at the top rungs of Govt. Depts. and Corporations with every change of govt.

(4) The questionable roles played by Aid giving Agencies in decision making.

(5) Lack of accountability on the part of those in authority and the non-penalising of those who are guilty.

Unless and until adequate steps are taken to remedy the causes indicated above, planning to carry out projects like the Coal Power Plant at Norachcholai or a Bridge or Barrage across the Kelani Ganga, or on Expressway to link Colombo with Katunayake, or a Fisheries Harbour down South or the expansion of the Port of Colombo or elsewhere, will only lead to greater misdeeds among those in authority and confusion and conflicts among the people.