Govt. seeks House approval to meet contingent liabilities

By Ashwin Hemmathagama – Our Lobby Correspondent

Two days before the Second Reading of Budget 2018, which is due to be read in Parliament tomorrow at 3.00 p.m., the Government sought House approval to meet its contingent liabilities worth Rs. 11,206 million incurred in September 2017.

According to the supplementary estimate moved yesterday in Parliament, capital was Rs. 4,928 million and recurrent expenditure was Rs. 6,340 million. The total spending for foreign tours totalled Rs. 350 million, including Rs. 500,000 spent by the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs, Rs. 3.16 million by the Foreign Ministry, Rs. 3 million by the Primary Industries Ministry and Rs. 495,000 by the Ministry of Skills Development.

Adding to the list, the Government has incurred Rs. 5.95 million for vehicle maintenance during September. The Ministry of Social Empowerment had spent Rs. 150 million for the BIMSTEC Summit on poverty. A sum of Rs. 11.5 million had been paid as compensation to the families of Beruwala and Aluthgama who had been killed due to the Dharga Town incident in June 2014. A sum of Rs. 16.5 million had been paid as royalty fee for dredging sea sand for the Port City Development Project.