Rs 168m for vehicles despite Finance ministry’s suspension till CHOGM

More than Rs 168 million was made in supplementary allocations between January and April this year to purchase vehicles for government institutions, despite the Finance and Planning Ministry deciding to temporarily suspend all vehicle purchases until the end of November 2013, in view of the requirements of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to be held in Colombo in November.

The supplementary allocations were made from the Budget Support Services and Contingency Liabilities project of the Department of National Budget, details of which were presented to Parliament this week.

The Presidential Secretariat was given Rs 25 million to purchase vehicles, while the Health Ministry and the Livestock and Rural Community Development Ministry were given around Rs 23 million each, for the same purpose.

The new vehicle purchases came as the Finance Ministry has begun to take stock of the vehicles available in Government Ministries and other agencies, ahead of the CHOGM.

All government institutions had been asked to provide details of vehicles available there, with details such as year of manufacture, registration numbers and running condition, before June 30.

“Since the purchase of vehicles for this year and next year needs to be well coordinated, in view of their requirements for CHOGM, vehicle purchases and distribution will be temporarily suspended until the end of November 2013,” the Finance Ministry said in a circular last month to heads of all Government institutions including ministries, Provincial Councils and other statutory bodies.

However, despite this decision, millions were given to various ministries for vehicle purchases in the first four months of the year, with the Economic Development Ministry getting over Rs 14 million, Defence and Urban Development over Rs 10 million and several other ministers getting around Rs 6 million each.