News
Daya Gamage’s company stripped of Central Expressway contract
The Cabinet terminated the contract of former UNP Minister Daya Gamage’s construction company named ‘Olympus’ over what the government called a deliberate delay in completing the second phase of the Central Expressway. The delay smacked of a bid to sabotage the expressway project, Chief Government Whip Highways Minister Johnston Fernando said yesterday.
“The previous government awarded construction contracts to its cronies. A construction company owned by former Minister Gamage was awarded the contract to construct the second phase of the Central Expressway. The company kept delaying the work in spite of our repeated requests and reminders. We instructed them to expedite the construction of this section. We cannot open the section from Mirigama to Kurunegala without completing the construction of this particular section.”
Minister Fernando said that even though an additional sum had been paid, Olympus had not done any work. “We will terminate the contract awarded to Olympus company owned by the former minister for deliberately sabotaging the Expressway construction work”, he added.
As per the terms of the contract between the ministry and the company, the ministry had very few options when the company deliberately delayed the process, the minister said. “One of them is was institute legal action against the company for breach of contract. It seems that was their intention was to get us to file a case so that te road work could be done until the case was over.”
Gamage was not immediately available for comment.
Following the conclusion of bilateral discussions between President Anura Kumara Disanayake and Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, official-level talks between the delegations of Sri Lanka and India commenced this morning (05) at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo.
Representing the Government of Sri Lanka were Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism, Vijitha Herath; Minister of Labour and Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Anil Jayantha; Secretary to the President Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake; Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Dr. P. Nandalal Weerasinghe, along with other senior officials.
The Indian delegation included Minister of External Affairs Dr. S. Jaishankar, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and His Excellency Santosh Jha, High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka, along with several other senior officials of the Government of India.
Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, who arrived in Sri Lanka on the invitation of President Anura Kumara Disanayake on Friday [04] night, visited the Presidential Secretariat this morning (05).
The Indian Prime Minister was warmly welcomed by President Anura Kumara Disanayake upon his arrival at the Presidential Secretariat.
Prime Minister Modi is currently on a state visit to Sri Lanka, reaffirming the theme “Friendship of Centuries — Commitment to a Prosperous Future” which symbolises the longstanding ties between Sri Lanka and India. The Indian Premier is scheduled to remain in the country until tomorrow (06).
[PMD]
The official welcoming ceremony for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was held this morning (05) at the Independence Square in Colombo.
On arrival at the Independence Square the Indian Prime Minister was warmly welcomed by President Anura Kumara Disanayake.
Discussions between Sri Lankan and Indian delegations at the presidential secretariat
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Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi arrives at the presidential secretariat
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