The reason why I said it was because people over time have tried to show that privatization is a dirty word. It is not. If you have liabilities bigger than the assets you have, you are actually better off by getting rid of it since it is the public that has to fund this to keep it running. Those who are responsible for creating the liabilities have to take it which is why I said.

Sri Lanka’s Deputy Minister of Public Enterprise Development, Eran Wickramaratne last week said the island’s State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) have been given a new lease of life after the new government assumed office and vowed that they would now be managed more efficiently under his Ministry’s watch thus maximizing public benefit.

“A seemingly simple improvement could be the introduction of a timetable according to which public transport runs. By installing GPS systems on buses, the public could keep track of their routes, arrival times and estimated time to destination. This would save people anxiety over bus delays. Considerable amounts of time are wasted.People should no longer have to stand waiting, often in monsoonal times such as what we are experiencing now, for buses to come at times that they can only just guess,” Wickremaratne said.

UNP MP and Investment Promotions and Highways Deputy Minister Eran Wickramaratne said yesterday that factions of the UPFA went against the wishes of the people by diluting one of the most important features that would have made the 19th amendment more meaningful for the people. He said the UNP and Maithripala Sirisena campaigned to abolish the Executive Presidency and build an independent, depoliticised public sector.