PM making unsubstatiated allegations to sling mud at me:MR

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s allegation that I had, in my capacity as the minister of highways, taken a loan of Rs. 55 billion from the National Savings Bank for 28 road projects but that Rs. 28 billion of this money had been used for other purposes such as helicopter rides and providing free meals to people, is a part of the ongoing smear campaign against me

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa said yesterday that the allegation about the misappropriation of Rs.28 billion was again yet another instance of mudslinging. Issuing a statement, Mr. Rajapaksa said, “Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s allegation that I had, in my capacity as the minister of highways, taken a loan of Rs. 55 billion from the National Savings Bank for 28 road projects but that Rs. 28 billion of this money had been used for other purposes such as helicopter rides and providing free meals to people, is a part of the ongoing smear campaign against me and an attempt to belittle the solid achievements of my government in infrastructure development. The Road Development

Authority did indeed obtain a long term credit facility of Rs. 55 billion from the NSB for 28 road projects. The Rs. 28 billion referred to by the prime minister is not a part of the Rs. 55 billion long term loan.

It is a separate short-term loan that was negotiated between the Road Development Authority and the NSB to meet payments relating to various ongoing projects. The Treasury has in fact issued ‘letters of comfort’to the NSB asking them to release this short term loan to the RDA to be settled later through the 2015 budget. All road projects are evaluated by RDA engineers and tender boards and payments are certified based on the work done. The Parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) can verify the work carried out by the RDA on the basis of the NSB credit facilities.

The Rs. 28 billion short term loan from the NSB was utilised for the most part to meet the ‘local component’requirements in projects funded by foreign donors like JICAand theADB. Some of it was used for the maintenance and repair of existing roads. In any event all the money was spent on road development.