By Ajith Siriwardana  

* Tourism, fisheries, IT industries and agricultural sector to be developed as immediate measures to uplift economy   

A National People’s Power (NPP) government will take  immediate measures to uplift the economy initially where steps will be  taken to boost the tourism industry to attract four million tourists to the  country per year, NPP presidential candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake  said yesterday.   

Addressing a rally in Monaragala, he said areas such as the tourism industry, fisheries industry, IT industry and agricultural  sector have been identified as areas which can be developed as immediate  measures to revive the economy.   

“The tourism industry can be developed as an immediate measure  to uplift the economy. The maximum tourist arrival to Sri Lanka is only  2.3 million within a year. We will boost the industry to attract four  million tourists per year. There are 400 million middle-class people in  India and in China, 120 million people go out of the country as tourists  annually. Sri Lanka is located in a strategically important location.  We have good beaches, central hills, wildlife zones, good civilisation, and ancient inheritance which are ideal for tourism,” he said.   

Dissanayake said the fisheries industry will also be developed  as an immediate measure, where action will be taken to support the  fishermen to venture into the sea for fishing within two weeks after taking over the country. “Most of the fishing boats are anchored  in harbours without going to sea. It is not profitable for them to  engage in their industry due to the high costs,” he said.   

He also said the NPP government will take immediate measures to  uplift the IT sector to a record Rs. 5 billion economy while creating  200,000 software engineers.   

Dissanayake said the NPP government will focus on a production  economy, claiming that the past rulers had collapsed all production in  the country, encouraging imports.   

“They collapsed all productions in the country. It is  advantageous for them to import everything. A commission of Rs. 8 has  been taken to import an egg. If 10 million eggs were imported, the  commission is Rs. 80 million. If eggs were produced in the country, it  is beneficial for the country, if eggs were imported, the minister is  benefitted,” he said.   

Dissanayake said Sri Lanka exported coconut oil through BCC  and said special tanks were built in the port to store coconut oil for  export adding that those tanks are now used to store imported coconut  oil for distribution. “Now, they prefer to import coconut oil. They have  earned Rs. 3,500 million as commission by importing coconut oil. Almost  everything that can be produced in Sri Lanka is imported now. Even  kankun, chilli, rice, onion etc. are imported,” he said.   

He said NPP government will promote a production economy and  pointed out that agricultural lands will be leased out to farmers  instead of large-scale companies.   

“We will stop providing lands to large-scale companies, we  will provide them to farmers. We need to cultivate an additional  season,” he said.