SriLankan Airline and Mihin Lanka had become White Elephants: Maithri

Dec 24, 2014 (LBO): Sri Lanka’s State-run SriLankan Airlines and Mihin Lanka, a budget airline had become White Elephants, destroying the money of the common man, common opposition Presidential candidate Maithripala Sirisena said. œMihin Air is a massive national robbery which has been done openly, Sirisena said at a business forum yesterday.

œThis was done for the needs of one or two people.

œWe will merge SriLankan and Mihin Lanka if we come into office and will investigate and punish those who are responsible for the corruption that took place in buying the aircraft and equipment.

œAlso it is necessary to appoint people with specialist knowledge to top positions to manage these airlines, he said.

œCurrently the airlines are not managed by the people, who has that kind of specialized knowledge.

œAs you all know, Mr. Rajapaksa’s family members are holding the positions. So, these enterprises have become large white elephants. It is essential to appoint capable and honest people to manage them.

In the first half of 2013 Foreign Direct Investment into Board of Investment’s services sector was only 18 million US dollars, main Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said