Transport, Highways and Mass Media Minister Dr. Bandula Gunawardhana said yesterday that President Ranil Wickremesinghe is the only leader capable of transforming Sri Lanka into a developed country with international support. Therefore, only President Ranil Wickremesinghe will run for the next Presidential Election as a common candidate with the support of all Cabinet members and all parties that do not have narrow political views.
The Minister said this while addressing the gathering during the opening of the Dunsinane – Pundaluoya Road which was renovated at a cost of Rs.120 million, according to the request of Water Supply and Estate Infrastructure Development Minister Jeevan Thondaman.
Under the programme of carpeting and renovating the 1,000 km roads project, 5.4 km of the section of this road has been re-carpeted.
“This road has been in a dilapidated condition for a long time so that children found it difficult to go to school, others to go to the hospital, and fulfilling their other needs.
“But at a time when all road constructions have stopped due to economic difficulties, this road is being built as a result of Minister Jeevan Thondaman’s constant intervention about the development needs of this area as the Cabinet Minister and Member of Parliament of this region. After the restructuring of the foreign debt, we will resume the development projects that were stopped in the middle in Nuwara Eliya and Kothmale,” he added.
He said that this country came to a complete standstill and became bankrupt in 2022. No country in the world accepted us. We were in a situation where no one paid attention to our Letter of Credit.
“The Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) led a struggle to destroy Parliament and set the whole country on fire. At that time, when no one came forward to save the country, Ranil Wickremesinghe, who had held the position of Prime Minister of the country five times and who is known internationally and known to world leaders, took over this country. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and we all voted for him together in Parliament and handed over this country to the leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to rebuild the country. Then he reached a staff-level agreement on economic policies with the IMF.
“The country will run according to the conditions reached with the IMF until 2048. If that agreement is changed, the Government will only last for two weeks or a month. The Government’s next Budget can be prepared following the assistance of this programme. Then only we can pay salaries of government employees. Only if the Budget is prepared, the low-income people will get benefits, pensioners will get pensions and roads will be built.
“It is estimated that US$5 billion is not enough for us to prepare the 2025 Budget. The outstanding amount will be provided due to the extensive loan agreement that President Ranil Wickremesinghe has with the International Monetary Fund. If Anura Kumara or Sajith Premadasa has said that the IMF agreement is a death trap, they can never govern a country.
“President Ranil Wickremesinghe has announced a debt restructuring deal with countries including India, France and Japan. If we are not accepted internationally without paying the debt, we will once again become a country without oil and gas shortages.
“So, people can question the Opposition parties including the Leader of the Opposition who come to your areas, whether the country can be run by ignoring the foreign debt payment agreements and without the IMF.
“If the debt restructuring agreement is not fulfilled in that way, the Opposition parties will never be able to form a government. The country was turning into anarchy. Because President Ranil Wickremesinghe is the only leader who has the ability to transform the country without such a situation, but with international support.”