Choices

International Trade: Is Sri Lanka sleeping at the switch

May 30, 2012 (LBO) - Bangladesh is upset because India is about to sign a free trade agreement with the European Union. Its mission in Brussels has been …

Traffic fatalities in Sri Lanka: Six a day

Apr 17, 2012 (LBO) - The headline of a popular Sinhala language daily on 16 April 2012 screamed that 18 people had died in road accidents over the three days …

Sri Lanka Tsunami risk reduction in the age of Twitter

Apr 12, 2012 (LBO) - In theory, national governments should issue tsunami watches and warnings. For sure, they should be the only ones issuing evacuation …

Evidence and leadership in transport policy: Sri Lanka and Canada

Mar 26, 2012 (LBO) - I like the fact that the present government gets things done. The planning for the Southern Expressway started in 1988. It was completed …

Improving Sri Lanka’s airport experience

Mar 05, 2012 (LBO) - With some difficulty, given high hotel prices and uncertainty around visas, we organized a regional workshop that drew participants from …

Sri Lanka telecom reform: positive externalities

Jan 30, 2012 (LBO) - Reforms have costs. In any system, there are those who benefit from the status quo. Former President Kumaratunge once said in a speech …

How not to do public policy: Messy visa changes in Sri Lanka

Nov 25, 2011 (LBO) - In most countries, visa fees are set through subordinate legislation. In Sri Lanka, it comes in the National Budget, read by the …

Travel freedom for Sri Lankans

Nov 23, 2011 (LBO) - Recently, the Government of Sri Lanka announced that it will charge 50 US dollars per person from every foreigner entering Sri Lanka, …

Sri Lanka’s expropriation bill as BATNA

Nov 06, 2011 (LBO) - The government is paying a price for advancing a bill to expropriate private enterprises at a time when it wants to attract more foreign …

Resurgence of Sri Lanka’s North Central Province

Oct 17, 2011 (LBO) - For the longest time, the provinces fell out in the following pattern: the Western Province in the lead; the Central, North Western and …

Poverty: Where should Sri Lanka focus resources?

Oct 10, 2011 (LBO) - I was asked by a major charitable organization to help set the stage for their thinking on strategic direction. Mine is just a minor …

Open-source policy formulation for Sri Lanka’s capital

Sept 12, 2011 (LBO) - Encoded computer instructions, usually modifiable, are known as software. Software is complex. One set of instructions can contradict …

Sri Lanka water management: Multiple choice

Aug 08, 2011 (LBO) - It is said that inland reservoirs cover one tenth of Sri Lanka’s land area. Sri Lanka may possibly be the country with the greatest …

Sri Lanka tolls without thought: Backed up traffic and black money

July 18, 2011 (LBO) - There is a reason for applying expertise to major infrastructure projects. The costs of ill-planned actions are very high; and the costs …

Sri Lanka IT and ITES: Cheap is not enough

July 06, 2011 (LBO) - I moderated a session on IT and BPO industries at the Sri Lanka Economic Summit. True moderation is not time keeping and turn management. …

Sri Lanka’s ITES Sector: People are still the problem

July 4, 2011 (LBO) - In post-war Sri Lanka the hopes placed on IT enabled services (made up of software exports and business process outsourcing (BPO) are …

Sri Lanka sports: Ice hockey, cricket and money

June 17, 2011 (LBO) - I felt like writing a column on a subject that would surprise everyone. Ice hockey. But not only ice hockey . . . I used to live in …

Sri Lanka tourism: Of MICE and Patel points

June 13, 2011 (LBO) - I was asked to comment on a paper that looks at the potential of India as a source of tourists. Here are the key points. The key to …

Sri Lanka disaster risk reduction

Apr 18, 2011 (LBO) - The cruel paradox of disaster risk reduction is that the more lives you save, the more people with destroyed livelihoods there will be. …

Sri Lanka’s mobilephobia and health

Mar 17, 2011 (LBO) - Recently, a student at a Sri Lankan university died. According to reports, he had gone to the third floor of a university residence hall …