Author: Rohan Samarajiva

May 29, 2013 (LBO) – There is an argument being made in the rich parts of Colombo. It is not being articulated in words, but in deeds. The Navy is running pleasure boat services and restaurants. The army is fixing up walking paths. Government appointees are running the upscale clubhouse at Water’s Edge. Through these […]

May 06, 2013 (LBO) – In early March 2013, the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) announced a public consultation as part of its decision making on the 2013 tariff submitted by the government-owned, integrated electricity company, the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB). The tariffs, once approved, were said to come into force in April […]

Apr 02, 2013 (LBO) – Last week, I had the opportunity to moderate a powerful expert panel on transport at the LBO-LBR CEO Forum. Below is a revised version of the note that I circulated to the panelists as a frame for discussion. March is the death anniversary of Sir Arthur C Clarke. The main […]

Mar 15, 2013 (LBO) – Suddenly, electricity is on everyone’s minds. I watched vox pop segments on a TV show (people on the street speaking to a camera). They were very upset. One even said that all that is left is to commit suicide. Perspective So I thought it would good to gain some perspective. […]

Feb 19, 2013 (LBO) – I’ve been seeing the insides of too many airports, one reason for the long gap since the last Choices column. Made me reflect on what makes some airports hubs and others not. A hub airport is one that has a high proportion of transit passengers (and/or freight). The last time […]

Dec 07, 2012 (LBO) – The middle page of the December 5th, 2012 Lankadeepa, the newspaper with the highest readership in Sri Lanka, carried a long interview with the Senior Minister for International Monetary Cooperation and the Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning Dr Sarath Amunugama, where, among many important statements, he said the following […]

Nov 29, 2012 (LBO) – I came across a little index from The Economist that I tweeted about. I was surprised by the reaction: lots of retweets; even caused the ranks of my followers to swell. So it appears that the question addressed in the Index, “which country will be the best for a baby […]

Nov 19, 2012 (LBO) – The government of Sri Lanka owns and operates two loss-making airlines. There was a time when the one poorly performing airline was partially privatized. Then in 2007/08, the government started a second airline and nationalized the first. Performance in the periods prior to and after 2008 by the government airlines […]

Oct 22, 2012 (LBO) – Protests are starting against the announcement that everyone pulling ground water will have to obtain a license. online pharmacy buy cipro with best prices today in the USA The sad thing is that there are no public-interest or environmental groups speaking up for the critically important ground-water layer that regulating […]

Oct 09, 2012 (LBO) Some colleagues who had come to Sri Lanka at my invitation for a business meeting had flights out Sunday late evening. My first thought was to take them around Colombo on the free day to kill time before they left for the airport around 5 PM. Then someone asked why not […]

Sept 11, 2012 (LBO) Last night I watched Bill Clinton nominate Barack Obama as the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party. Clinton is a classic speaker. I’ve always studied his major speeches.buy zovirax online buy zovirax online no prescription His first major speech was a fail. He was given the nomination speech for Dukakis in […]

Aug 13, 2012 (LBO) – My book was launched August 6th. My task was to thank people. This was important because the preface of this rushed-to-print book was written solely by my co-author so this was my only opportunity. I began by saying that no creative work was ever done by one person alone. The […]