Ministries asked to pick priority projects

By Rathindra Kuruwita

The Cabinet of Ministers has entrusted line ministries to determine which of the 261 major projects, in the country, should be given priority, taking into account the current economic crisis, Cabinet Spokesman Bandula Gunawardena told reporters on Tuesday.

Addressing the post-Cabinet Press conference, he said that President Ranil Wickremesinghe, on Monday, presented the Cabinet with a progress report on the state of these projects.

“Most of these projects are done with foreign funding, through bilateral and multilateral donor assistance. There are projects that the Sri Lankan government also shares the cost. After we suspended repayment of foreign debt, most of these projects have come to a halt. Some of these projects are almost complete,” he said.

Most of these projects are on infrastructure development, the Minister said.

“The President presented a report which said the sustainability of these projects are an issue. The President suggested that the line ministers must look at what the most important projects are and that they should work with the National Operations Unit to determine what the best course of action is,” he said.