Budget funds under-utilised - Minister

"The utilisation of funds within the given period of the Budget is far below expectations. We have now gone from a Budget to another Budget we are still to make use of the capital expenditure that we have voted in Parliament," Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said addressing the annual forum of the Chamber of Construction Industry at the Hotel Galadari recently.

There are many snags associated in the process of implementation of the voted funds, the minister said.

Ministries seek funds from the Treasury which finds the needed resources from donor agencies, supporting Governments through bilateral and multilateral treaties and agreements, we in Parliament as members of the people vote in the Budget allocating funds but when it comes to implementation officials make every effort but where is the results," the Minister asked.

He said in most cases the implementation is less than 30% of the voted funds. There have been enough and more reasons for that he said. "The system of awarding tenders, contractors not providing performance bonds, Banks not providing required funds likewise, at the end of the day what do the people of this country get," said the Minister.

Speaking on infrastructure development he said that in terms of urban development in all sectors there is a major need to concentrate on a mechanism for fast tracking and transparency so that we can deliver the product to the people of this country.

The tender procedures associate lot of delays because we can't find the level of confidence in terms of justification for transparency. We have to find a way to a more liberal selection process, a better quality assessment process, we need a feed back from the chambers.

"The tripartite agreement signed between the Chamber of Construction Industry, the BOI and the University of Moratuwa could address some of these aspects," Bogollagama said. Country Director for the Asian Development Bank Alessendro Pio said that human capacity building is important for a country like Sri Lanka. "The Moratuwa University is doing a lot in this regard."

He said the ADB is supporting the Government of Sri Lanka in the development of infrastructure in the country specially in the area of constructing highways. It is a challenge for Sri Lanka in its economic advancement, he said.

He also said that the ADB is supporting the Government of Sri Lanka to complete a feasibility study for the Colombo-Jaffna highway.

Chairman BOI Saliya Wickramasuriya said that during the period after the liberalization of the economy the investment climate has improved. The liberalisation of economic policies and Tax policies have supported increase of investment to the country. He further said that there must be a good understanding between institutions so that a lot can be done to improve the investments to the country.

President CCI Surath Wickramasinghe said that the CCI have been advising the Government on developing infrastructure in the Rural Area. There is a need for a National Policy on Infrastructure Development. The Government must get directly involved with the development of infrastructure in the rural areas, he said.