The Committee on Public Finance has expressed its displeasure over the operations of the Colombo Port City Economic Commission as senior officials failed to appear before the Committee and did not provide proper notice of absence under the due process.
Whilst emphasising the importance of the Port City project for the purpose of generating investments and the work done thus far, the Committee unanimously expressed its dissatisfaction and advised officials present that a better sense of responsibility needs to be exercised as professionals handling such a project of importance.
Therefore, the Secretary to the Commission was instructed by the Committee on Public Finance to submit in writing a reasonable explanation as to why officials failed to be present before the Committee when they were summoned on the 21st of December.
The matter was raised at the Committee on Public Finance recently (5) under the chairmanship of MP Harsha De Silva to take into consideration the Regulations under the Colombo Port City Economic Commission Act, No. 11 of 2021.
The Committee inquired into why there was no proper online presence or a website for the Colombo Port City Economic Commission especially in a context where the Commission expects registrations and submission of applications to be done online.
Accordingly, the Committee instructed the Commission officials present, to look into resolving the said matter.
Furthermore, the Committee also inquired into the delay in the submission of audit reports.
The Committee directed the officials to ensure the expeditious submission of the annual audit reports.
Furthermore, MP Harsha De Silva announced that a sub-committee has been appointed to oversee the establishment of the Casino Regulator consisting of MPs Chandima Weerakkody, MA Sumanthiran, Mayantha Dissanayake and Prof. Ranjith Bandara under the Chairmanship of MP Anura Priyadharahsna Yapa.
