BOI spent over Rs. 3.3 b with no formal plan: COPE

The Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) yesterday found that the Board of Investment (BOI) has spent over Rs. 3,352.92 million without a formal project proposal on infrastructure development and a repayment plan.

Of the total, over Rs. 2,300.53 million has been spent on infrastructure development projects in Milleniya Export Processing Zone (EPZ), whilst Rs. 1,052.39 million has been spent on Bingiriya EPZ.

COPE Chairman Prof. Charitha Herath and its members questioned the BOI officials for spending an enormous amount on infrastructure development without even clearing the land issues on the proposed EPZ in Milleniya.

An amount of Rs. 91.61 million has been paid to the Divisional Secretariat of Milleniya to acquire the lands pertaining to the EPZ and over Rs. 2,088.39 million has been paid for service providers for the development of infrastructure facilities. Upon inquiry as to why public funds had been spent with no formal agreement for service providers, BOI Chairman Sanjaya Mohottala had said they had now signed agreements for these projects.

The COPE Chairman directed the BOI to provide a comprehensive report on the expenditure for these projects within three months.

It was also revealed that 484 projects in 12 EPZ or Industrial Processing Zones (IPZ) have been cancelled or terminated as of 31 December last year.

The COPE Chairman also inquired about the seven officials recruited with higher salaries bypassing the general procedure through Cabinet approval and advised that such actions would lead to internal conflicts within the organisation. 

In addition, attention was also drawn to the delay in development of the entry roads to the Bingiriya EPZ.

Minister Mahinda Amaraweera, State Ministers Susil Premajayanth, Dr. Nalaka Godahewa, D.B. Herath, D.V. Chanaka and Indika Anuruddha, MPs Rauf Hakeem, Dr. Harsha de Silva, Eran Wickramaratne, Nalin Bandara, Madura Vithanage, Premanath C. Dolewatte, S.M. Marikkar and S. Rasamanikyam and other Government officials also participated yesterday.