A CLARION CALL TO ENGINEERS

I read a very interesting article by Priyal de Silva, retired General Manager, Sri Lanka Railways where he gives the history of Railway Signal System commencing from 1964 when the first Colour Light Signals were installed between Veyangoda and Panadura by our own railway engineers. In saying so he refers to the “China Huge Signal Controller” and this could have been handled by our railway engineers and technicians and generate encouragement, enthusiasm among locals to produce the necessary spares and equipment for the signaling systems, and skills for national development by saving scarce capital resources.

Most importantly, he says, minimize country’s foreign debt, the necessity to sell/lease national assets to settle debts and also maximize employment creation for our own labour and entrepreneurship, thereby economic growth. This reminds me of getting the Indian Company to relay the Northern Railway line which was destroyed during the LTTE uprising. Surely, this could have been done by our own Railway Way & Works Department.

Railway engineers and technicians

The work involved was laying of rails, sleepers, ballasting and strengthening bridges as the track itself was compact and sound.

The credibility and efficiency of our railway engineers and technicians could be judged, how they handled the wash away of the track during Tsunami and also if one can remember the 1947 floods where the line was washed off from Peradeniya to Gampola, the work was carried out expeditiously. If this work too was entrusted to our railway engineers, the work would have been completed at a lesser cost and quick time.

In fact what is happening now is that the country which provides the loan, does the work, using their men, materials and machinery, paying themselves from the loan, and we have to pay back the loan with interest.

The expressways and road construction work done by Chinese could have been easily handled by our civil engineers of the present Road Development Authority (RDA) at a lesser cost but as said earlier, the country which provided the loan, paid itself.

This brings to my mind and incident where the World Bank in the 1960s funded construction of (subject to correction) 12 bridges and one of the condition was that tenders should only be issued to member countries and the loan receiving country is not entitled to tender.

The then Chief Engineer (Bridges) M. Chandrasena, made a claim that the Public Works Department (PWD) be allowed as the Bridges department was well equipped and had a Pre-stressed Concrete Yard (a pet project of M. Chandrasena) I cannot remember whether this was allowed, but the fact remains that our engineers demonstrated their capabilities to match foreign experts.

Local expertise

Quite correctly and no ambiguity Priyal de Silva has concluded by saying “It is their duty (Government) to implement public investment projects such as those that could use local labour, entrepreneurial and other physical inputs to the maximum extent, and be steered by local expertise, rather than investing in foreign procurements on a turnkey basis with foreign borrowings, which provides little or no benefit to the national economy or to the public at large”. It is hoped, our engineers in all disciplines - civil, electrical, mechanical come forward to assure the governments of their unstinting support and pressurize the authorities to pay heed for the sake of nation building, and save the country of foreign debt burden.

The parting shot - of course is will our politicians concede to the request of engineers, keeping in mind the much hyped accusation of ‘Lining their pockets’.