In November 2016 after the Yahapalana government was appointed into power, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's private secretary Saman Ekanayake sent a confidential letter to the Secretary of the Highways Ministry. It states that after a thorough inspection by the Economic Management Committee on 9th November 2016, the contractor has given approval to the Economic Management Committee on the construction of the existing flyover at 6.33 Km to 9.11 Km.
According to the Economic Management Committee, this length should be increased not to exceed the amount of credit granted. However, on November 30, 2016, the project consultancy company requested the project director to request an additional estimate of Rs. 26 billion for the 1.215 Km hike. The main question that arises is, how did the Economic Management Committee approve the estimated cost of the project before the Project Consulting Company submitted the above estimate to the Economic Management Committee?
How can a technical evaluation report be approved without any evaluation or assistance from any expert?
It is clear that when the company applied for 1.215 Km, the Economic Management Committee approved an increase of 2.78 Km. According to an expert engineer, the 2.78 Km increase will cost at least Rs. 36 billion.
The members of the Economic Management Committee who approved the project are Ranil Wickremesinghe, Malik Samarawickrema, Charitha Ratwatte and Paskaralingam. By granting this approval, we clearly see a money laundering being taken place. It is our responsibility to get rid of these Yahapalana scandals which take place in our country that cost billions of innocent people's money.
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