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The saying, “The former regime has forgotten why they were chased out and the present can’t remember why they were elected,” rings very true of Sri Lankan politics.

This point was amply illustrated on Thursday, when an adjournment debate in Parliament on alleged corruption in awarding of contracts for highway projects, became a finger-pointing exercise, with each side blaming the other for mishandling these massive projects.

The adjournment motion was moved by JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayaka, who is also the Chief Opposition Whip. Overall, the debate turned out to be a damper, with much of the Opposition allegations against Highways and Higher Education Minister Lakshman Kiriella, a repetition of all that has been made before from the floor of the House.

The JVP leader reminded Govt members that it was charges of massive corruption associated with those linked to road development projects, that eventually led to the downfall of the previous Govt and said, it is clear that this Govt too is going down the same road.

“We have evidence that the contracts for these projects have been given to people connected to the Minister of Highways. There is also manipulation in the manner in which tenders are awarded. This is very much like what happened during the previous regime,” he said. He alleged there was also disregard for the environment damages caused by these road projects.

JVP MP and COPE Chairman Sunil Handunnetti who seconded the motion, insisted that, despite denials by Minister Kiriella that tenders were awarded in keeping with accepted guidelines for procurements, there should be a proper probe. “Some who tried to defend the Bond scam when it first came out, are now silent when many new details are emerging. We want the Expressway projects to be probed in the same manner,” he said.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said there were several issues with regard to the extension of the Southern Highway, particularly the stretch from Matara to Beliatta, but measures have been taken to resolve them.

“Although there were no objections to the construction of a section of the road through the Deniyaya forest reserves, during the previous regime, objections cropped up after the change of Govt. The Central Environmental Authority and the Forest Conservation Dept reported that, by constructing the Expressway, the Deniyaya forest reserve would be split in half, which would hamper the movement of wild animals in the forest reserve,” he said.

“Two alternatives were discussed to address this issue. One was to avoid the forest reserve and construct the Expressway. The other was to construct the Expressway through a tunnel, but the latter would cost a huge amount. Hence, the Highways Ministry was instructed to formulate a plan to construct a flyover with minimal harm to the forest reserve. This was a policy decision and was approved by Cabinet,” he said.

Megapolis and Western Development Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka noted that a staggering sum of Rs 1,331 billion is to be spent on constructing 356 km of Expressways from 2016-2025, and said it was time to re-think the country’s development priorities.

“The amount of money spent on 3 km of Expressway can be utilised to build massive waste recycling plants to solve the garbage issue in Colombo,” he said.

Highways Minister Kiriella denied there was neither any misappropriation of money in Highways projects nor any irregularities in awarding tenders. “All these projects were started by the previous regime and we are continuing them,” he said.

The Minister also said he did not need to rob public money, as he has enough money of his own. “We have Rs 400 million in our bank account, which has been declared, and we pay taxes. My wife’s great grandfather had over 30,000 acres of land in Balangoda. My grandparents too had properties equal to that. As lawyers, in some years, my wife and I have paid taxes of over Rs 25 million. We do not need to steal from others,” he insisted.

The highlight of the debate was finding out how much Minister Kirella has in his bank account. Other than that, there were more empty seats in the House than on most days, and even the JVP that moved the motion seemed to have lost interest in it midway, having left the chamber by the time the debate ended late in the evening.