NPP govt. to bring in foreign investors to manage Sri Lanka Telecom: Anura Kumara

By Ajith Siriwardana  

A National People’s Power (NPP) government is ready to bring in a foreign investor to manage Sri Lanka Telecom, NPP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said yesterday.  

Speaking at the NPP Bank and Finance Forum, he said the NPP is against selling Sri Lanka Telecom and that however, they will have to bring in a foreign investor to manage it.  

“We discussed it with the engineers at Sri Lanka Telecom. They pointed out that Telecom lacks sufficient capacity to manage it as Telecom is a high-tech industry which is constantly changing. So, we will have to bring in a foreign investor to manage it,” he said.  

Dissanayake said the NPP has plans to develop the country and added that they will have to face challenges due to the lack of skilled human resources to execute the plans.  
He said the NPP has planned to send at least 200 students who have passed their A/L examinations to foreign universities every year at government cost, aiming to bring in new knowledge and skills to the country.  

He also said the NPP has plans to stop brain drain.  

“We have only a 15 percent professional labour force out of the total labour force,” he said.  

Dissanayake said a National People’s Power (NPP) government will collect reasonable tax in a transparent manner and every tax payer will be informed of the taxes paid and how it is utilized by the end of every year through an SMS.  

He said this system will be introduced within two to three years after taking over the government.  

“After two to three years time, we will send an SMS to the mobile phone of the taxpayer at the end of every year, giving them an update on the amount of taxes paid by him or her and how the tax money was utilized such as on education, health road development etc. Then, tax payers will know how the tax money paid by them is spent,” he said.  

Dissanayake said people and businessmen like to pay taxes and that they do not like the tax money being looted.  

“When a tax is paid, people must receive its benefits in return. We will collect reasonable tax in a transparent manner,” he said.