The Sri Lankan government has to pay close to Rs. six billion as consultancy services for a scrapped light rail project that was proposed by the regime of former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe under a Japanese concessional loan. Current Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksha last year canceled the Light Rail Transit (LRT) project, for which Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) had loaned 30 billion yen (USD 285 million) to finance the first phase.

The LRT project was originally the largest single foreign-funded infrastructure project in Sri Lanka and was seen as an indication of the island nation reducing its dependence on China.

Less than a year after coming to power in 2019, Rajapaksa had scrapped the project, saying it was ‘not cost-effective”.

Newsfirst reported that Colombo has to shell out Rs. 5.896 billion as consultancy services for the scrapped project.

The sum was mentioned in a report prepared by the Auditor General on the financial statements of the government for 2020 published in the Annual Report of the Ministry of Finance.

However, the Auditor General’s report said the amount was not included in the government’s financial statements for 2020.
 
(SAM)