Ranjith Siyambalapitiya (Deputy Minister of Finance) said: We have fertile lands in villages but we lost all that because of the Bare Lands Ordinance during the colonial era. We have bought a number of acts to parliament to give back the ownership of those lands to Sri Lankans.
We know that along the coast line there are lands attracting foreigners who are eager to buy them.
Local lands should belong to locals, he said.
The UNP strongly held that we would not get investment if the 100% land tax was re-imposed. However Symbalapitiya said that Rohitha Bogollagama had only shown the loopholes in the bill.
This, he said, showed that there is division among UNP members regarding this particular bill.
Rajitha Senaratne (UNP MP - Kalutara District) said that the government would repent for bringing in this bill. We would lose our foreign investors because of this bill.
The powers of sale and lease of lands already purchased by foreigners would be vested with the purchase of the land.
On one side you want to pacify the locals and on the other side you want foreign investors to come in.
The bill would not have the power to stop foreigners from buying land and holding on to those lands for nearly 300 years, if they felt like it.
No foreigner had purchased a land and handed it to a Sri Lankan.
Had there been a law like this would Shell Gas come to the country? You would see in the near future how much foreign investment you would lose with such a law implemented.
On one hand you invite foreign investors and then ask them to pay a 100% tax for the land, he said.
All the while you want to deter the foreigners from buying land from this country. We should take North Korea, America or China as examples. The whole world was governed by the dollar. The world has accepted globalisation and it’s time that we too accept it.
You can get on stage and say we saved the country from foreigners, which would be good for the gallery. However, you would realise before long your mistake once you face the budget deficit.
People take decisions in a very simple way. They would think about the jobs their children would get and such things to elect a government. Ask how much the President paid when she bought her bungalow in England. Ask Somawansa Amarasinghe how easy it was to buy land abroad. There were no restrictions abroad on buying land.
Though socialist block is no more we still talk of Socialism.
When you go to Shanghai and Beijing in China there are so many foreigners. China has so many multinational companies.
He pointed out that it would be a problem for Sri Lankans living abroad and who had duel citizenships. They have foreign passports and when they come back and want to buy land in Sri Lanka to settle down they would have to pay the tax of 100 per cent.
We can take the country forward if we think realistically -instead of depending on slogans.
We must remember that it is always the party that handles the economy well that wins the elections.
Mahinda Amaraweera (Deputy Minister of Urban Development) said Dr. Rajitha Senaratne believed in the theory that a lie often repeated can become the truth. Though member Senaratne said the facilities given to foreigners would bring in large investments to the country, relaxing the law on purchase of land had not brought any additional investment.
Dr. Rajitha Senaratne brought out false evidence in his speech about land in countries being available to foreigners freely. China or Cuba did not open their lands to foreigners. But only allowed industrial zones opened in areas under regulations. Their development strategies were not based on allowing foreigners to exploit land or other national resources.
Mahinda Amaraweera said that foreigners who bought land after the 100 per cent tax was abolished by the UNF bought land in the southern coast and built small hotels or rooms which were used by foreigners for holidaying. But no funds came to the country as holiday makers paid for their holidays in Germany, France or UK. The tourist industry here suffered due to this system of payment.
Kabir Hashim (UNP - Kegalle District) said that foreign exchange inflows to the country had increased by 36 per cent during the UNF government of two years. The inflation ratio came down to a single digit during that time. It was due to the Prudent measures of the UNF that the rupee became a stable curancy for the first time after independence.
The UPFA government had no sound economic policy though it was blaming the UNF which stabilized the economy, for allowing foreigners to buy land. It should not be forgotten that it was a strategy aimed at encouraging foreign investors.
Ven. Ellawala Medhananda (JHU - Colombo District) said the land policy of the government should be one in which the people are benefited. The colonial rulers deprived the birthright of land in the country after 1848. About 3 million acres of fertile lands were vested with plantation companies and individuals.
The proposal to discourage foreigners from buying land was laudable in view of the landlessness of the Sri Lankan people. Encouraging foreigners to buy land meant going back to the colonial era where the local people were deprived of their birthright either by the gun or by draconian laws to grab the most fertile land by foreigners.
Rohitha Abeygunawardhana (Deputy Minister) said he wished to speak as a member representing Kalutara district. He was aware of the large number of lands bought by foreigners along the coast. People who lived on the coast sold their land to foreigners and moved into the hinterland. But again foreigners started buying land facing the river or waterways. As this goes on the local people would face another crisis of land values going up beyond their reach.
He said the government re-imposed the 100 per cent tax to arrest this trend.
Mahindananda Aluthgamage (Deputy Minister) said the UNP policy was intentionally aimed at depriving the poor and landless of whatever benefits they would be given. When the UNP gave the liberty of purchasing land to foreigners it had forgotten that a vast majority of Sri Lankans do not own land. Even among those who had an income to purchase land, the inflation of land prices created by foreigners paying high prices for local land, prevented them owning land.
While landlessness among the Sri Lankans was increasing the UNP had attempted to sell lands to foreigners.
Dr. Sarath Amunugama (Minister of Finance) said that some foreign companies had been buying land and later re-selling those lands to other foreigners at unconscionable profits. Land in Sri Lanka is comparatively cheap, therefore foreigners buying land here and selling it abroad for high profit was certainly undesirable.
He said the government was not discouraging foreign investment and does not discourage those foreigners who want to start industries or make genuine investment. Companies or bodies are welcome to make investment under BOI projects. The amendment was certainly not making an attempt to ban the purchase of land by foreigners.
