22 February 2018 07:34 pm
He told parliament that it was put on hold by the President after considering several factors such as using these funds for essential projects in the education sector.
The Minister said this in response to a question asked by joint opposition MP Dullas Allahapperuma that according to reports the President had stopped it because of problems in the tender procedure and whether it would be implemented in the future.
The Minister said they had adopted the correct tender procedure where they managed to save nearly Rs.2 billion when coming to the last stage of the programme.
"We adopted due procurement procedures to carry out this programme. Some people attempted to get involved in this project in undue ways with the help of powerful people. But we managed to select four suppliers and submit them to the Cabinet for approval," the minister said.
He said the President advised to postpone this project saying that there were other programmes in the education sector which should be given priority. (Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera)