15 January 2020 09:01 pm
The previous government failed to carry out a proper estimation of the value of property acquired from external parties, Ports and Shipping Minister Johnston Fernando said today during an inspection tour.
“The previous regime has carried out its development drive without considering the public interest. This inspection tour was organised with several objectives, the primary being to identify the shortcomings of the project. The previous regime had failed to look into the various issues faced by people. However, we will resolve them soon,” he said.
He said the government before 2015 did a thorough estimation to the point it calculated the value of land in thirty years.
"Compensation was given on that basis. The Yahapalana Government only considered the present value of lands. There were many issues pertaining to the valuation procedure during the former regime which we will rectify. We have to pay 15% for the loan taken to construct the central highway. The previous regime robbed the Central Bank thereby resulting in an economic downturn. It had started this project from Mirigama to Kurunegala but not completed construction. Former Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe and former Highways Minister Lakshman Kiriella had given excuses to Mahanayakes. We expect to complete this project as soon as possible. If the former President and incumbent Prime Minister were in power after 2015, the project would have been completed by now,” he said. (Pushpakumara Jayaratne and Yohan Perera)