SLC’s Jaffna Sports City Under Scrutiny

Apr.07 (Mirror Sports) - Eye-brows and questions have been raised over the proposed construction of what is being touted as the Jaffna Sports City in Mandathivu that was adopted by Sri Lanka Cricket at what was called an Extraordinary General Meeting held yesterday at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel in Colombo. 

According to Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) the Jaffna Sports City will comprise of an international cricket stadium together with high performance sports facilities, education and research institutions, tourism and hospitality developments intended to boost tourism, youth development and development activity in the north with the whole project funded by SLC’s internally generated funds and private-public partnership. 

According to SLC the land space will be made available by the government. But questions have been raised over the total cost of the Jaffna Sports City which has not been stated by SLC as well as its financial exposure and funding structure that has to include defined funding limits and risk exposure. 

Questions have also been raised over what could be open-ended authority to SLC’s Executive Committee to undertake financing, enter into partnerships and execute the project without defined requirements for further member approval on material decisions. Also of concern is the absence of a defined mechanism for structured reporting, independent oversight, or project-specific audit and given the magnitude of the project there have been calls for the establishment of a formal oversight structure with mandatory periodic reporting to the SLC membership. 

Further questions have also been raised over the project’s inclusion of tourism, hospitality and other commercial components that is beyond the core mandate of cricket development. 

There have also been concerns for clear accountability, including governance, ownership structures and risk allocation, to ensure that Sri Lanka Cricket’s primary objectives are not diluted. SLC’s dependence on government allocated land and risk mitigation in the event of delays or non-availability of required approvals has also raised concerns. 

According to analysts while phased implementation is proposed, there are no defined controls or approval checkpoints and what is important is that each phase be subject to clear financial viability assessments that require explicit member approval before proceeding further. 

Also brought into focus is that the resolution to establish the Jaffna Sports City in its current form, lacks the necessary safeguards relating to financial discipline, governance oversight and member accountability.