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| Sunday, 12 May 2002 |
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Probe on Katunayaka expressway deal The Government is conducting a detailed investigation into the complex web of deals and administrative decisions that resulted in an enormous over-expenditure on the proposed Colombo-Katunayake expressway even before construction began on it, government sources told the 'Sunday Observer'. The inquiry will be held while the Government proceeds with the expressway project on a new basis. After a detailed study of the original contract, given out to a South Korean joint venture, the Government has now decided to press ahead with the much-delayed project by calling for new tenders for an undertaking solely by the private sector on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis. Defence, Transport and Highways Minister Tilak Marapana announced last week that the Transport & Highways Ministry would shortly call for tenders. The intention is to get the project undertaken entirely with private sector investment with no further Government spending on an already costly venture which was originally begun with a calling for tenders in 1999. The Governmental inquiry has so far revealed that while a Belgian and Chinese joint venture had first been selected as the winning bidder for this project, the previous PA Cabinet had subsequently reversed that decision and awarded a design-build-transfer (DBT) contract to a joint venture between two giant South Korean firms, Daewoo and Keangnam. In the course of pre-construction work on the project, the Government has paid up a total of Rs. 3,923 million to the principal contractor and secondary contractors including the consultant to the project, sources disclosed. The total cost of the original contract signed with the Daewoo-Keangnam joint venture amounted to approximately Rs. 10,915 million, including GST. Government officials pointed out that if implemented, it would have meant that the 25-kilometre expressway between Colombo and the Bandaranaike International Airport, Katunayaka, would have cost an extravagant Rs. 436 million per kilometre. As it is, the Government is expected to incur a substantial loss in the scrapping of this deal in order to call for fresh tenders. |
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