Final report on outstanding Rs. 35 b from former Govt’s projects submitted to Cabinet

Wednesday, 9 August 2017 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Recommends nearly Rs. 8 b in total while Rs. 5.3 b for construction and Rs. 2.5 b for goods and services projects
Most ministries managed to settle dues without additional budgetary support from Treasury
Report yet to be approved by Cabinet of Ministers

By Charumini de Silva

The final report on the Rs. 35 billion carry forward contract liabilities for 500 public projects started by the previous regime covering 53 ministries was presented to the Cabinet of Ministers in June, a top official confirmed.

Based on the three-member committee report, projects worth around Rs. 8 billion have been recommended for completion according to the agency’s satisfaction.

The committee’s final report dated 29 March 2017, which was submitted to the Cabinet on 12 June 2017, recommended a total of Rs. 7.35 billion, where Rs. 5.3 billion was for construction projects while the balance Rs. 2.5 billion was for goods and services projects.

“Although there was a whopping Rs. 35 billion in outstanding payments, most of the ministries were able to settle the dues without additional budgetary support from the Treasury owing to the fact that most of the projects were completed and could not penalise the contractors,” Finance Ministry Public Finance Department Director General P. Algama told Daily FT.

The Cabinet in March 2016 appointed a three-member committee headed by former senior public servants Lalith R. De Silva, N. Padmanadan and Pushpa Welappili to review the raft of public projects’ carried forward contract liabilities from 2011 to 31 December 2014.

The committee scrutinised matters including how the contracts were awarded, how the contract agreements have been signed, whether the jobs had been done and the rate of interest while inquiring into the conditions, period of repayment, purpose of obtaining the loans and addressed linked concerns.

It was pointed out that even though the Treasury expected to have the full report presented to Cabinet before December 2016 as the process is very time-consuming and ministries kept on sending details even after the deadlines, the report’s submission got delayed by a few more months.

However, he said that the report is yet to be approved by the Cabinet of Ministers and based on the recommendation of the Cabinet the information on the report will be made available to the public