Akuregoda Defence headquarters facing funding issues
The much delayed construction work of Sri Lanka’s Pentagon-styled Defence headquarters building complex at Akuregoda, Battaramulla is now expected to be completed in 2023 after nearly 12 years of construction, official sources divulged.
Sources from the Treasury said that the project will continue with the raising of funds as and when it is needed but there may be a possibility of construction work being disrupted due to budgetary constraints.
The project was launched in 2011 to house the army, navy and air force headquarters moving from Galle Face Green and Fort to Battaramulla, under a government plan to shift all government administrative complexes to the same area.
Sri Lanka navy and air force headquarters will be shifted to the Akuregoda Defence Headquarters Complex by March 2023, Defence Ministry sources said. The budget 2023 had allocated a sum of Rs.7 billion for the relocation of the navy and air Force headquarters to Battaramulla. The army headquarters was shifted to this location in 2019.
275 contract works related to priority phases 02 to 07 of the Defense Headquarters construction project were scheduled to be completed during the year 2021/2022 under review by the Auditor General’s department.
But no physical progress was observed in 85 of those works as at 31 December 2021 and the work progress in 58 was 30 per cent lower than the expectations, the report observed.
The balance 132 construction works had been completed during the 2021/2022 under review by the department, it added.
Assets worth Rs. 14.27 million belonging to the three armed forces headquarters project had been damaged due to the fires reported in 2014, and the recovery or follow-up action from the responsible parties was delayed.
The contract period had to be extended on failure to complete the contract within the expected time, due to delays in the construction of the project, delays in opening letters of credit, etc, the AG’s report divulged.
Five such supply contractors had applied for 24 claims for the extension of time in the construction contracts (EOT) amounting to Rs. 1.13 billion.
A sum of over Rs.810 million has been allocated for consultancy service fees on engineering and quantity surveying as well as architectural services for three years during the period of 01-10 2020 to 30-09-2023.
The total cost of the project in the first phase has been increased to Rs.55.6 billion from the previous estimate of Rs.43.17 billion. But according to latest estimates it has further risen to Rs.60.88 billion.
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