Connect with us

News

Sri Lanka faces challenges in mega project implementation

Published

on

More than 300 contracts connected to 35 mega projects were suspended last year, and Rs. 2.3 billion was demanded as compensation by contractors for just nine of them, the Finance Ministry’s Project Management and Monitoring Department (PMMD) says, adding there is a probability that claims will also be submitted over another 22.

A total of 37 projects achieved no physical progress during the last quarter of 2023, according to the PMMD’s latest report released last month.

Among them are 17 projects out of 33 for which foreign disbursements were stopped.  Implementation delays are reported in 41 other projects owing to the poor performance of contractors. As this issue prevails in about 20 percent of total projects, it is important to consider the performance of contractors as a criterion for the renewal of their registration to resolve the repetition of this issue, the report states.

The PMMD’s latest data come amidst strong words in the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Governance Diagnostic Assessment, which pointed to recurrent problems in how successive Sri Lankan governments carried out mega projects.

Citing the PMMD’s 2022 fourth-quarter report, the multilateral lender notes that the most common issue affecting implementation is the delay in receiving allocation and imprest, “which proves that projects have commenced without appropriate budgetary allocations in the annual budget.” Another was the delay in land acquisition, it states, “again showing that projects are initiated without actually being ready”.

There are also procurement-related matters, the absence of performance indicators and outputs and the poor performance of contracts. And the Ministry of Finance “lacks basic information on projects, including the expected revenues and the potential cost of early termination given the limited data provided on projects and problems accessing necessary data”.

The PMMD’s new report says that delays have been a common practice, with “no evidence reported on actions taken against the responsible parties who have not taken appropriate steps for time management in projects, resulting in the failure of economic plans formulated based on the expected benefits of projects”.

The time period agreed upon for delivering outputs in an astounding 99 projects had lapsed at the end of last year while 20 of them obtained extensions beyond four years. Thirteen projects have not met even 25 percent of the expected target, even after more than half the project period, the PMMD notes.

For the first time, the PMMD has identified 30 projects that faced major implementation delays, including the Irrigation Ministry’s Uma Oya Multipurpose Development Project, which was inaugurated this week after ten extensions.

Another flagged project is the Irrigation Ministry’s Asian Development Bank-funded Mahaweli Water Security Investment Programme, the scope of which was drastically reduced by withdrawing 11 out of 21 packages owing to failure to execute them within the planned timeframe as well as the inability to begin new contracts in a restricted financial situation.

“The most complex tunnel construction package, which is currently ongoing and achieved about 20% progress, should be completed within 18 months and the balance loan amount of USD 159 million should be disbursed during this period Otherwise, that loan amount will be cancelled without any use.” the PMMD warns.

(sundaytimes.lk)

(Except for the headline, this story, originally published by sundaytimes.lk has not been edited by SLM staff)

News

Names of Mayors and Chairpersons of several LG bodies gazetted

Published

on

By

A gazette extraordinary has been issued containing the names of Mayors, Deputy Mayors, Chairpersons, and Vice-Chairpersons of several local government institutions.

The names have been gazetted based on recommendations sent to the National Election by political parties and independents groups that secured a majority in local government bodies at the recently concluded Local Government (LG) election.    

Accordingly, the Election Commission has taken steps to publish the names from among the political parties and independent groups that secured a majority at the Local Government election held recently.

The names of the elected and nominated members for the respective local authorities, following the Local Government election were also published in the government gazette based on the respective administrative districts.

As per the gazette notification issued by the Minister of Public Administration, Provincial Councils, and Local Government on February 17, 2025, the term of office of local government bodies is scheduled to commence on June 2, 2025

පළාත් පාලන ආයතනවල සභාපතිවරුන්ගේ නම් ඇතුළත් ගැසට් පත්‍රය නිකුත් කෙරේ by poornima

Continue Reading

News

Weather Alert: Showers to ease in Southwest, strong winds forecast in North

Published

on

By

Prevailing showery condition in the southwestern part of the island is expected to reduced gradually from today (01st)

Showers or thundershowers will occur at times in Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central and North-western provinces and in Galle and Matara districts.

Showers or thundershowers may occur at a few places in Uva province and in Ampara and Batticaloa districts during the afternoon or night.

Fairly strong winds of about (30-40) kmph can be expected at times over Western slopes of the central hills and in Northern, North-central and North-western provinces and in Hambantota and Trincomalee districts.

The general public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damages caused by temporary localized strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.

Continue Reading

News

Aluthgamage and Fernando assigned printing work in prison

Published

on

By

Former Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage and former Sathosa Chairman Nalin Fernando, sentenced this week to jail for 20 and 25 years, respectively, have been assigned duties in the printing section at the Welikada prison, sources said.

Both of them are being held together away from the main section of the prison’s ‘chapel’ section, where prisoners serving life sentences and those convicted of murder and rape are held. The prison’s printing section prints its own documentation.

Prison sources said that in placing them in relevant wards to serve their jail term, the authorities had taken into consideration the security of the two convicts, as they might have had political enemies.

Mr Aluthgamage was handed a 20-year term of rigorous imprisonment, while Mr Fernando was given a 25-year term of rigorous imprisonment by a High Court trial-at-bar after being found guilty of causing a Rs 53 million loss to the state.

They were accused of importing carrom boards and checkers boards through Sathosa during the 2015 presidential elections and distributing them to clubs.

Their lawyers said yesterday they were awaiting the certified copy of the judgement to prepare the appeal papers. The appeal will be considered by the Supreme Court.

(sundaytimes.lk)
(This story, originally published by sundaytimes.lk has not been edited by SLM staff)

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2024 Sri Lanka Mirror. All Rights Reserved