Use aid properly or face the music - Maithripala

Shirley Wijesinghe

Stern action will be taken against inefficient officers unable to utilise foreign aid, grants and loans allocated for Ministry projects, Agriculture Development and Agrarian Services Minister Maithripala Sirisena said. "There will be no room for these inefficient officers in my Ministry after December 31," Sirisena said.

He said the utilisation of foreign aid funds in local projects had not been satisfactory for the past 25 years.

"It is obvious that no productive investment had been made so far through such financial projects," the minister said.

"Therefore Sri Lanka had not been able to achieve its development targets," the Minister said.

Sirisena was speaking at a ceremony to handover agricultural machinery worth Rs. 330 million for socio-economic development projects under the Grant Assistance Scheme called 2KR for under-privileged farmers yesterday. He appreciated the Japanese Government's help for the development projects.

He said the "Api Wawamu Rata Nagamu" has been successfully implemented throughout the country. Among the machinery were 603 two wheel tractors and three combine harvest machines. Agriculture Minister Hemakumara Nanayakkara stressed the importance of Japanese donation to overcome high labour costs in the agricultural production sector.

Ambassador Japanese Kiyoshi Araki also spoke.