Sri Lanka’s disaster mitigation projects have been implemented in an irregular manner without proper planning, a progress report divulged.
An allocation amounting to Rs 480 million had been made to implement disaster mitigation projects during the year 2018 under review.
However the information relating to the disaster mitigation projects expected to be implemented in each district had not been indicated in the Action Plans of the Disaster Management Centre.
The allocation amounting to Rs 20 million made to settle the bills of 15 projects implemented in the previous year had also been included in the above mentioned allocation.
According to the progress reports of the Centre, a sum of Rs 474.43 million had been released to the District Secretariats and out of that a sum of Rs 361.49 million had only been utilized as at 31 December 2018.
A sum of Rs 104.97 million representing 22 per cent of the allocation made to implement the disaster mitigation projects had been utilized for 93 projects implemented in Anuradhapura district and thus evidenced that the distribution of the allocations between the districts was not done in fair manner.
Further, a sum of Rs 10 million had been allocated to develop the land of Aluthwattapara was revealed as an activity which was not related to the disaster mitigation works.
Out of the allocation amounting to Rs 50 million made under the “Development of Muti -Purpose Mitigation Aspects”, a sum of Rs 20.31 million had only been utilized during the and no action had been taken to utilize the entire allocation made thereon.
(LI)