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Central Expressway Stage 3: Questions on irregularities continue

26 Feb 2022

  • Doubts over promoting project as DFBOT
  • Ministry Secretary and officials refuse to comment  
By Asiri Fernando Controversy surrounding stage three of the Central Expressway Project (CEP3) is continuing, with Opposition Parliamentarians raising the issue in the House last week. A former Highways Minister, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Kabir Hashim questioned why the Government had moved to make changes to the Cabinet Appointed Negotiating Committee (CANC), which was appointed to negotiate the tender for the CPE3 mid-process. He also questioned the Government’s priorities in pushing ahead with the controversial project which would see Sri Lankan taxpayers pay millions in repayment each year for a period of  15 years while Sri Lanka was suffering shortages in medicine, fuel, and essential items due to the ongoing forex crisis. “..there are concerns as to why the Government, through a change in the CANC committee, dropped a lower bid and is planning to select a bidder which will see the taxpayer losing Rs. 1,068 billon in repayments,” Hashim charged. Hashim called the changes made to the CANC “irregular” and questioned why the three-member CANC had been changed into a five-member committee.  He alleged that the Government was planning to award the tender for the project to a bidder who had provided a higher cost, having disqualified another bidder who had submitted a lower cost option. The Sunday Morning last week reported that the Ministry of Highways and the CANC involved in the procurement process had disqualified a Chinese bidder, Metallurgical Corporation of China International Incorporation Ltd. (MCCII), who wrote to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa protesting the move. Ministry of Highways Secretary R.W.R. Pemasiri told The Sunday Morning that the MCCII had been disqualified and that the process was ongoing. However, when The Sunday Morning asked Pemasiri why the procurement process for the tender used the Design, Finance, Build, Operate and Transfer (DFBOT) model with a 15-year repayment schedule, he declined to comment.  Repeated attempts made to contact Minister of Highways Johnston Fernando for comments on the changes made to the CANC and the use of the DFBOT model failed. A senior official close to the CEP3 Project who wished to remain anonymous told The Sunday Morning that the decision to follow the DFBOT model, which was unusual, was due to the Government’s inability to source a loan from international agencies like the Asian Development Bank (ADB) or JICA.  “This would see Sri Lanka repay them over a 15-year period with interest, so yes it will cost more,” the official said. Meanwhile a highly-placed Government source also confirmed that the project was being negotiated on a DFBOT model, adding that such a repayment structure would allow some involved in the project to exploit its loopholes to fill their own pockets.  


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