Central expressway project to be reviewed

The Central expressway saddled with irregularities and malpractices is to be reviewed by the new administration, Road Development Authority (RDA) officials said.

At present the expressway is faced with further undue delay in the construction work of 33km stretch of road f rom Po t h u h e r a to Galagedara in phase three of the project.

More than four years after the Central Expressway Project was launched, only the 38 km stretch of road in the middle of the expressway was constructed, officials disclosed.

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa who visited Kandy recently assured that he will expedite the construction work after rev i ewing the wh o l e project.

RDA Chairman Nihal Sooriyaarachchi told the Business Times sometime back that they are stuck with the Central Expressway phase 3 as there was a funding issue and discussions are going on with the Attorney General’s Department to avoid the unfavourable conditions in the Japanese law.

The Government has secured a loan equivalent of US$1 billion from the Bank of Tokyo- Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd ( BTMU). But during discussions with the Japanese team the Sri Lankan sought to obtain more favourable terms from BTMU.

Malpractices and irregularities in the project have been revealed by the Auditor General in a special investigation audit report recently.

The pro c e d u re for selecting a consultant and a contractor for the phase I, II and III of the expressway had been contrary to Section 1.1 of the P u bl i c Procurement Guidelines, the report revealed.

Fujita Corporation, the Japanese construction company which offered a lower bid to build the stretch of road i n Central Expressway phase 111, has been rejected by a tender evaluation committee on the g rounds that it was unqualified to implement such a massive project.

Only the bid offered by another Japanese company, Taisei Corporation has been awarded the contract. Taisei’s price is Rs. 159 billion while Fujita quoted lower at Rs. 147 billion.

Moreover, the third phase of the central expressway aw a rd e d to Ta i s e i Corporation is being built using a commercial loan from the Tokyo Mitsubishi Bank.

It is the responsibility of the management to plan, implement and maintain adequate internal control systems to ensure that the public resources are utilised in such manner, the audit query suggested

Further, when designing and implementing such l a r g e scale pro j e c t s implemented under foreign funds, the officers who are involving with project activities should carry out a p ro p e r p ro f e s s i o n a l “behaviour” and the related institutions should work in a good governance framework, Au d i t o r General recommended.