The Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) disclosed that the Government has incurred a loss of Rs. 78 million (Mn) due to a failed project for the construction of a radar system provided by the World Meteorological Organisation in the Gongala area.

These facts came to light when the Department of Meteorology was summoned before the COPA recently.

In this project implemented in 2008, approximately Rs. 402 million has been spent for this radar system and Rs. 323 million has been given by the World Meteorological Organisation. It was also disclosed that before bringing this project to Sri Lanka, an officer of the Department had inspected this machine and informed them not to bring it to Sri Lanka as it was not in working condition. Officials of the Auditor General's Department stated that many years have passed for the preparation of a road to the relevant place and that the equipment has therefore become obsolete. They then pointed out that due to the collapse of the crane carrying this and the road, some equipment has been destroyed while the rest of the equipment is missing. 

Meanwhile, inquiries were made regarding the existing reports about the current drought situation not being accurately predicted. The Director General of the Meteorology Department said that he was informed about this during the monsoon-related discussions held last April with the Irrigation Department, the Mahaweli Authority and the related Government institutions and other regional countries. It was also inquired if there was data on the progress made in achieving the published predictions. But, it was revealed that there is no such programme.

While 453 rain gauges were installed, 73 of them were inactive. Furthermore, although 122 automatic rain gauges were installed in 2018, 70 are currently not working due to issues such as the batteries not working.