21st Meeting of the Select Committee - 20 May 2005

Priyantha Serasinghe, Group Director of The Maharaja Organisation, Kingsley Bernard, President of the National Chamber of Exporters (NCE), M P T Cooray, Secretary General of the Joint Apparel Association, Ranjith Rajapakse, General Manager of Associated Motorways, K C Suwarnaraj, Chairman of the Vavuniya Chamber of Commerce, Stanley Jayasekera, Head of Global Trade for the National Chamber of Commerce, K Palaymianly, Member of the Old Moors Association, and M Atton, Deputy Secretary General of the Ceylon Chambers Forum, attended the Select Committee hearings.

Mahinda Samarasinghe stated to those present that the private sector needs to play a larger role in the coordination of reconstruction efforts and of protecting employees in the event of a natural disaster. He briefed them on the systems in place in California and Honolulu, which he had learnt about during a parliamentary study tour. California has a business forum called BICEP, which looks into the welfare of businesses and of employees in the event of a natural disaster, and he suggested this should be implemented here.

Priyantha Serasinghe spoke on the role his organisation played in earlier natural disasters as well as in the aftermath of the tsunami. They were able to implement plans for relief aid to reach affected areas immediately because they were already doing relief work in flood affected areas. He also stated that The Maharaja Organisation utilises its media division to create awareness. Speaking on corporate social responsibility, he said that people and organisations need to be proactive and not reactive to natural disasters.

Stanley Jayewardene stated that the National Chamber of Commerce had an arm of the district chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) organised in 15 districts. This network helps the National Chamber of Commerce to dispatch aid to affected areas and to give assistance to affected businesses as well.

M P T Cooray stated that there was a need to make employees aware of how to identify a natural disaster and know what to do when it occurs.

Mahinda Samarasinghe, the Chairman of the Select Committee, briefed the heads of the business community on the government’s plan of action for the mitigation of natural disasters. He stated that a natural disaster council, which consists of the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader as well as five members of the parliament, was to be set up in the near future. The council will be linked with a technical committee, which will coordinate relief efforts with a National Disaster Centre.