Public funds wasted on derailed projects
The Government's recent decision, if it is a firm decision at all, to scrap the Japanese- funded LRT ( Light Rail Transit) project that was to ease the chronic traffic congestion in and around the capital city, raises a few questions.
What was the basis for cancelling this project? No one has got a proper answer except for a bland response from the Cabinet spokesman who said it would cause “significant environmental damage".
If it was done because it was the former UDA Minister who is in the bad books of this Government who spearheaded the project (mooted first by the Mahinda Rajapaksa administration prior to 2015), or someone wants make a buck out of a fresh commission, then the Government has a lot to answer for.
A high- level Chinese delegation was given special treatment to enter the country this week to discuss projects. The Chinese embassy has tweeted, brazenly touting this very project saying Chinese companies have shown a "keen interest" to build the Colombo LRT system at "half the cost of which Japanese companies quoted". The shift from the Japanesefunded project, where after months of negotiations the loan was to be as low as at 0.1 per cent interest with a 12- year grace period, is bound to have geo- political significance when Sri Lanka's avowed foreign policy is said to be "neutrality". Foreign investors are going to look askance at doing business with a country that signs and cancels agreements.
Exiting is going to cost good money as penalties for defaulting on a signed contract; good money of the Sri Lankan people just thrown down the drain. These are not new phenomena. Soon after the 1996 Central Bank bombing, an American company was consulted to redevelop the Colombo Fort area, but all that happened was compensation had to be paid in millions of US dollars for not going through with the project. In 2012, US dollars 650 million was paid for the Kriish Square project also in Colombo Fort, a project that never materialised. More recently, an Italian firm was paid Euro 10 million (Rs. 2 billion) for default of a contract on the Hyatt hotel project. SriLankan Airlines paid USD 98 million for aircraft it leased, and never used. The delay in the Port City resulted in more land being given. Millions are squandered on projects that are signed, but never see the light of day.
Such indecision and delays on the part of governments, often laced with corrupt motives, are costing the people dearly, and nobody in High Places seems to care two hoots.