Sunday November 06, 2011

Grave concern over the effects of urgent bill

Sevenagala sugar factory owner sees political motives behind acquisition Opposition says foreign direct investment will be severely curtailed

By Our Political Editor

Sitting on top of a six billion rupee empire extending to several spheres, he is easily one of Sri Lanka's top notch  Daya Gamage broke down in tears at Friday's news conference business entrepreneurs. Apparel, sugar, electronics, computer software, aviation and construction are just a few among them. The billionaire that he is, 51-year-old Daya Gamage is perhaps the only businessman in the country to own a private jet. Some days, he boards his six -seater Beechcraft C55 for a flight to Ampara where his main apparel complex is located. By afternoon, he is back in Colombo for a meeting at his three-storeyed Daya Group building at Pepiliyana junction, just a kilometre from Kohuwala. By evening, he is off again by road to one more of his business ventures in the outskirts of Colombo. A look at the wall of his modestly furnished third-floor office speaks of the company he has kept or is still keeping. There are portraits of the bearded businessman posing with former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, winning an entrepreneurial award from President Mahinda Rajapaksa and seated shoulder to shoulder with UNP leader Ranil Wickrmesinghe. At one end, several statues of Lord Buddha of varying sizes lay on a table. Gamage, however, is not an apolitical businessman though a devout Buddhist. Protests outside the gate leading to the Sevanagala Sugar Factory in Moneragala