Southern contractors benefit from international funds for development in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 July 2010, 03:42 GMT]
Sri Lanka government gives preference mostly to Southern contractors and workers allowing them to benefit from international assistance provided to develop the infrastructure of Jaffna district and to take South the profits made while denying opportunities to local people, C. V. K. Sivagnanam, former president of Jaffna district NGOs Federation and Joint Secretary of Ilangkai Thamizh Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) told TamilNet. Local entrepreneurs in foreign countries should immediately appoint their representatives in Jaffna and actively participate in the development projects so that the profit in the ventures could be invested again in the north creating job and trade opportunities for the local people, Sivagnanam said.

The World Bank and Asian Development Bank have allocated 50,000 million rupees to be used in the next three years for the development of infrastructure of Jaffna district, Sivagnanam said.

At least a ten percent profit in handling the above amount could be made and used in the general development of North if it could be earned by local people in the North and not taken to South, he further said.

This opportunity is completely lost as Sinhala contractors and workers who pour into North with the blessings of Sri Lanka government are bound to take the profit to the South.

For instance, a Sinhala contractor from South has recently established a big granite crusher plant in Oamanthai to supply granite to the building development projects in the North, Sivagnanam said.

If local entrepreneurs fail to take immediate and active participation in the development of infrastructure of Jaffna district funded by international orgnizations, the people of North will ultimately loose what could be rightly earned from the development projects, he added.