Govt loses over Rs.1 billion for13 sports development projects

Thirteen sports development projects in Sri Lanka have been stalled, and some of it permanently halted, wasting millions of rupees of tax payers money due to various reasons, a recent Auditor General’s report revealed.  

The Treasury has spent around Rs. 330 million at the end of last year alone and the accumulated cost up now was Rs. 1.15 billion for these projects including the Nuwara Eliya High Elevation Sports Complex, a high ranking Finance Ministry official said. 

This was confirmed in the Auditor General’s Report stating that millions of rupees were spent on projects that dragged on for years, ultimately resulting in cost escalations.

When projects stall, the Government loses a massive sum of money as delayed charges for construction contractors and companies including servicing of debts for foreign funded projects, the report clarified.

Even spending huge amounts the country has not been able to gain expected results or returns on public investment.

The construction of a High Elevation Sports Complex project on a 34.5 hectare land belonging to the Ministry of Sports in Nuwara Eliya town was to be completed in 2019 but it has been discontinued, the report highlighted.

The loan agreement had been reached to obtain 70 per cent of the contract value from the UK Export Finance Corporation and the remaining 30 per cent from the People's Bank.

The loan plan fee for the project €264,492.34 or Rs. 51.05 million had been paid to the lending bank.

A sum of Rs.53.55 million had been spent on salaries and wages, and office equipment for this project in the year 2019.  Accordingly, the total cost spent on this project had become a fruitless expenditure, the report pointed out. (Bandula)