News
Roadblock on projects and related payments- Rs 250 billion, pending re-evaluation
Government has put on hold road construction projects valued at Rs 250 billion, thereby withholding payments due to the contractors.
Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake told the Sunday Times that, as a result, payments for these projects including some of which have been partially completed, have also been withheld.
Public Health Inspectors carry out a surprise check on food items for sale during this New Year season in Aluthgama. Similar raids were carried out by the Consumer Affairs Authority in various parts of the country. Pic by Sarath Siriwardana
“The Ministry of Highways said the Finance Ministry was informed that illegal transactions will not be approved, and the Government was not willing to make these payments,” he said.
He said investigations have revealed that State bank funds, including that of the National Savings Bank (NSB), has been approved for these projects, illegally.
The findings will be first submitted to the Committee appointed by the Prime Minister to probe corrupt deals, and thereafter, will be handed over to the Financial Crimes Investigations Unit to conduct further investigations.
He said, some of the delays in gathering information was due to the fact that proper Tender procedures had not been followed, and therefore, lacked documentation. He said that, in addition, the Government has been forced to pay Rs 562 billion for various other projects, though some of them have been overestimated. “Some of these payments are to foreign contractors and therefore, the necessity to pay them,” he added.
“Our question is why did the contractors accept these project without Tenders. Even if the projects are awarded without Tenders, it is not an issue for development, but certainly has an impact on corruption resorted to by the former government.”
“The former President has queried about the projects, but our message is clear, corruption will be stopped.”
Minister of Highways, Kabir Hashim told the Sunday Times that the Road Development Authority (RDA) has obtained loans amounting to Rs 152 billion from State banks, including Rs 55 billion from the NSB.
“We have found that, of the money released from the NSB for road construction projects, Rs 3.7 billion has been used for the Highways Ministry’s expenditure, while Rs 6 billion has been used to pay foreign loans, thereby completely violating financial regulations,” he said.
“This matter has also been handed over to the Prime Minister-appointed committee for further investigations.”
He said that the road projects are being re-evaluated to consider payments to the contractors.