NHDA spent over Rs 472 million on advertising and publicity during yahapalana rule

By Saman Indrajith

The National Housing Development Authority had spent over Rs. 472 million on advertising and publicity campaigns during the yahapalana regime, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa told Parliament yesterday.

The PM said that the Finance Ministry had already commenced an audit regarding those expenses.

Prime Minister Rajapaksa said so responding to a query by Galle District SLPP ME Sampath Atukorala, who said the NHDA was under the purview of the then Housing Minister Sajith Premadasa during the time period in question. A media and publicity unit was established in January 2015 for the NHDA and it continued to be operational until November 2019. The media unit which was under the direct purview of the Authority’s Chairman had been tasked with raising awareness of the housing projects carried out by the authority. The media unit had a staff of more than 40 persons by the end of 2019. Public money had been spent to build up images of some persons via that media unit, MP Atukorala said, demanding to know the cost to the public purse by those media campaigns.

The Prime Minister said that Rs. 85 million had been spent on printing posters, invitation cards and commemorative magazines. Another Rs. 42 million had been spent on plaques, etc. For newspaper advertisements the Authority had spent Rs. 345 million, the PM said.