Waste garbage disposal & levelling at Meethotamulla CMC busts Rs 5.5 billion

A Special Report, by the Auditor General, reveals that the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) had paid a staggering sum of Rs 5.5 billion to two private companies it had contracted for four years to collect and dispose of waste at Meethotamulla and to level the garbage dump there.

This figure is a 48 per cent increase in the Council’s rates collected for the task. What is more, the Auditor General has further stated that tenders for the two agreements were not transparent.

The Report points out that suspicious transactions had taken place in connection with the finances utilised by the CMC for the dumping of garbage at the Meethotamulla garbage dump.

According to the Report, the CMC had signed agreements with two private firms to dispose of garbage and level the garbage mound and had consented to pay Rs 5.5 billion to those two private companies to fulfil the task.

In addition, although a sum of Rs 260 million had been set aside to purchase vehicles in 2016, only Rs 658,000 of this sum had been spent for the purchase of vehicles. Instead, the Report states that monies had instead been used to rent vehicles and a colossal sum of Rs 230 million had been utilized in 2016 for that purpose.

(Source: Ceylon Today – By W.K. Prasad Manju)