By Jehan Perera –

Jehan Perera

The government is investing its time and money in northern development in a way that no previous government has in a long while. The topmost leaders of the government no less, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Leader of the House Bimal Rathnayake, have been spending a great deal of their time and effort in the north. During their visits they meet face to face with persons from different walks of life and launch new development projects that will benefit the people. These face-to-face engagements signify not only physical connectivity but the rebuilding of trust between the government and the people of this once war-torn area of the country. Last week Minister Rathnayake was in Jaffna to launch the widening of the access road to the Kurikadduwan Jetty which is launching point of ferries (boats) that take passengers to the small islands off Jaffna.

Minister Rathnayake announced that the development of the access road to the Kurikadduwan Jetty has officially begun, marking a major step forward in improving connectivity to the islands off the Jaffna peninsula. The most significant of these islands is undoubtedly Nainativu, which is popularly known today as Nagadipa. Traditions has it that Nagadipa was one of the three sites that Lord Buddha visited in Sri Lanka during his sojourn in this world which makes it one of the most sacred religious sites for Buddhists. Thousands of pilgrims from the rest of the country visit Nagadipa every day with the numbers soaring on the long weekends. The improvement of the access road from Jaffna to Kurikadduwan will help to save the time of these pilgrims. Such promotion of local-level tourism can be the seed of revival. Speaking at the event in Jaffna, Minister Ratnayake emphasized that this development will also greatly ease transportation difficulties faced by residents and officials on the surrounding islands, including teachers and government employees who rely on boats for daily travel.

At the present time, passengers who use the ferry system have to experience considerable hardship such as standing in the hot sun without shade, and with no system of ensuring that they stand in line, so that they jostle each other to get to the front nearest to the boarding place to the ferries. Sometimes when there is a dearth of ferries, the people who are awaiting them get anxious and restive. The government officers on duty at the boarding point are understanding of the plight of the passengers, and tend to let them all board the available ferry which makes the crowding inside the ferry unbearable. But the passengers have to bear with the hardship.

Micro Changes

A future phase of the development of the ferry system at Kurikadduwan would, therefore, necessarily involve upgrading the quality of the ferries themselves. The government-run ferry is one that is meant for passengers, but the private ones are no better than fishing boats where most passengers either stand or sit on the top of the deck. It is important that the government authorities at the jetty should regulate the numbers who could board a ferry to ensure that it is not overloaded and also ensure that every passenger is provided with a life jacket which is not the case at present.

At the opening of the access road to Kurikadduwan, Minister Rathnayake repeated the government’s consistent pledge that will treat all people regardless of ethnicity, religion or region equally and give them equal opportunities for development. It is due to this promise made by the government at the previously held elections, that the people of the north (and indeed elsewhere in the country as well) gave the NPP an unprecedented mandate, and one never before given to any other mainstream political party in the north of the country. In developing the national economy, the government also needs to widen its horizons from the micro to the macro level. This applies at the regional level as well.

It needs to be noted that the population of the largest of these islands, Delft, to which the government is committed on integrating with the larger Sri Lankan economy is only around 5000 today. It was more than double this prior to the war. However, hundreds of tourists, mainly local tourists, visit the island to see the famous wild ponies of Delft, the descendants of the horses, left behind by the Dutch who established a fort and military garrison on the island when they ruled parts of Sri Lanka in the 17th and 18th centuries. Next year the government plans to develop the Kurikadduwan Jetty itself as it is presently in an underdeveloped condition with a minimum of facilities for those who come to travel on the ferries. However, there needs to be consideration of boosting the economy by making use of potential linkages between the region with larger markets such as provided by the rapidly prospering economy in next door India.

Macro Changes

The stakes are high where the development of the north and east of the country is concerned. At the present time, the younger people in the north and east where the war once raged, are frustrated by the lack of employment opportunities and are constantly on the look out to leave their homes and come to Colombo or to go abroad and work. Therefore, the government needs to do its utmost to boost up the development of the north which will also feed into the national economy. For decades, the North in particular but also the East were seen as a burden to be managed or a problem to be contained especially in the context of the ethnic conflict and war. Today, the north and east of the country need to be seen as a part of the larger whole to be opened and joined with the world. Just as Kurikadduwan connects the mainland to the islands, Kankesanthurai can connect Sri Lanka to the Indian subcontinent.

The government needs to build on the constructive achievements of the past and think big without being haunted by the problems and conflicts of the past. A special area for development would be to expand the interconnection between the northern port of Kankesanthurai and the south of India, just as much as the government is expanding the interconnection between the mainland of Sri Lanka and its small islands. Previous governments entered into agreements with India to take forward the Kankesanthurai Port project and improve the ferry service between Sri Lanka and India. The Kankesanthurai Port was first targeted for revival in 2017 when Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Prime Minister Modi of India entered into an agreement in which India agreed to extend a Line of Credit to rehabilitate the harbour which had been silted and rendered unusable during the war. Again in 2019, under President Gotabaya Rajapaksa both governments agreed to explore expanding Kankesanthurai into a functional passenger and freight terminal linking directly with Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu.

Therefore, the framework for a fully operational trade and tourism linkage through Kankesanthurai already exists. It must be kept in mind that Sri Lanka cannot depend solely on internal circulation of people and goods if it is to grow beyond its current constraints. The road to Kurikadduwan may shorten the time of travel between Jaffna and Nagadipa, but the channel through Kankesanthurai can shorten the distance between Sri Lanka and India, and through India to the wider world. To remain inward is to remain small. To connect outward is to become significant. The success of the north, and indeed of the country, will depend on whether we extend the connectivity and economic opportunities within the country to the external world.