News
Parliament takes stock of abandoned major construction projects
The Parliament has recently discussed the difficulties caused by abandoning some major construction projects.
Minister of Urban Development and Housing Prasanna Ranatunga instructed the Ministry Secretary at the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Urban Development and Housing, to consult with relevant parties and take a decision regarding abandoned uncompleted buildings in the Colombo municipal area. Accordingly, the minister also directed the Ministry Secretary to submit those recommendations to the cabinet.
The Minister made the order when the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Urban Development and Housing, chaired by him and State Ministers Arundika Fernando and Thenuka Widanagamage
Here, the State Minister Arundika Fernando pointed out that in Colombo area with high commercial value, abandoned and unfinished buildings such as ‘Krish’ and ‘Hyatt’ are causing a lot of damage. Therefore, it was emphasised in the committee that immediate action should be taken in that regard.
Meanwhile, Minister Ranatunga also instructed his officials to draw up some relief program due to the current economic crisis, in collecting the installments from the people who bought houses of the Housing Development Authority. The minister also advised to take the concessional measures so as not to harm the financial viability of the authority.
He told officials to arrange for the immediate release of the land belonging to the Coast Conservation Department (CCD), which can be used for the advancement of the tourism industry, to the relevant investors within the legal framework. It was discussed that it is necessary to provide land for temporary construction for the tourism industry while keeping the right of the land with the department and Bali Islands in Indonesia is a good example of that. Accordingly, the Minister also instructed to contact the Ministry of Investment Promotion and carry out related activities.
Members of Parliament Chandima Weerakkodi, Upul Mahendra Rajapaksa, Gunathilaka Rajapaksa, Jagath Kumara Sumitrarachchi, Manjula Dissanayake and Jagath Samarawickrama as well as officers of the institutions under the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing also participated in this meeting.
Accepting deposits from political parties and independent groups who intend to contest the forthcoming Local Authorities Election ended at 12noon today [19].
Deposits were accepted at respective District Secretariats from 3rd March 2025.
The Elections Commission has announced that the deadline for the accepting of nominations for the LA poll is set to conclude at 12:00 noon tomorrow (20).
It has been reported that the former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Deshabandu Tennakoon has appeared before the Matara Magistrate’s Court this morning (19),
The former IGP had been evading arrest after the Matara Magistrate’s court had ordered his arrest regarding a shooting incident that took place in front of the W15 Hotel Pelena, Weligama, Matara, in 2023.
The government has begun recovering funds obtained by former Lands and Land Development, Environment and Wildlife Resources Minister SM Chandrasena for the Janatha Lanka Chilli Marketing Limited (JLCML), which he headed, Parliament was informed yesterday.
Agriculture, Livestock, Land, and Irrigation Minister Namal Karunaratne said that as the Chairman of JLCML, Chandrasena had obtained a loan of Rs. 1,275,000 from the Mihintale Govijana Seva Bank in 2001.
The principal of the loan had not been repaid until the end of last year. “After we came to power, we demanded that the loan be settled. Then, we discovered that the interest on the loan had not been paid for the past 24 years, and attempts had been made to have the loan written off. We stopped that and are now in the process of recovering the interest of Rs. 1,975,233 on the loan,” Karunaratne said.
Karunaratne added that JLCML was registered as a company with the Registrar of Companies on March 21, 2001. As Chairman of the company, Chandrasena requested a loan of Rs. 10 million on April 19, 2001, for the purpose of purchasing chillies from farmers in 12 farmer colonies in the Mihintale Agrarian Service area.
The request was approved by the Mihintale Agrarian Service Committee on the same day and referred to the Anuradhapura District Agrarian Operations Committee, which approved it on April 23, 2001. However, the Agriculture Development Commissioner General recommended that a loan of Rs. 1.2 million would suffice for this purpose. JLCML took the loan and failed to repay it until the end of last year. When the matter was raised, the principal was paid, and we are now in the process of recovering the interest that was not paid for the past 24 years,” Karunaratne added.
By Saman Indrajith
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