News
Huge Highway robbery for polls
The Highways Ministry which came under former President Mahinda Rajapaksa spent a staggering Rs. 50 billion in excess of its allocation last year — with most of the money believed to have been busted on election propaganda work of the UPFA Government, a Cabinet minister said yesterday. Highways and Investment Promotion Minister Kabir Hashim told the Sunday Times that preliminary investigations had revealed that more than 70 per cent of these funds had been wasteful expenditure.
“False bills are being produced by officials to account for the extra expenditure during the election period. The Ministry will not accept these bills and officials who authorised the payments will have to pay back,” he pledged. Most of the propaganda work for Mr. Rajapaksa’s presidential campaign was carried out by the Ports and Highways Ministry. Mr. Hashim said he hoped to meet Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake to discuss ways of recovering the funds.
Meanwhile, Moratuwa University experts and engineers have been commissioned to investigate all road construction projects and submit a report on quality and expenditure. Mr. Hashim said the Government had ordered the suspension of the expressway project between Matara and Beliatta. This was being carried out by a Chinese firm.
The tenders awarded to five local companies for the construction of the northern expressway had also been suspended, the minister said. The project has been over estimated by Rs. 50 billion, according to initial investigations.