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| Thursday, 14 October 2004 |
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SLPA stops Rs.700 m wastage by Channa Kasturisinghe The previous administration of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) was planning to spend Rs. 1300 million to install an inferior Terminal Management System (TMS), wasting nearly Rs. 700 million, SLPA Chairman Dileepa Wijesundare said yesterday. He told the media that the new management of the SLPA decided to cancel the purchase of the system which had been finalised by the previous administration to be purchased on a soft loan when the SLPA could afford to buy with its own funds a better and more advanced system to ensure smooth and efficient port operations. "The consultancy awarded for the TMS was for Rs. 300 million. The cost of the computer software and hardware was to be Rs. 1000 million, which is a total of Rs. 1300 million. Most other ports have spent less than Rs. 600 million for a similar system. The South Asia Gateway Terminals (SAGT) spent under Rs. 300 million for a similar installation," Wijesundare said. He said the previous management changed the Technical Evaluation Committee removing those who showed clear objections to the selected TMS. "The selected supplier apparently had the worst demonstration and they did not even have a fully developed system. The supplier selected had no experience of any installation in a trans-shipment port such as Colombo. The specification did not call for a billing system because the selected system did not have a billing module," Wijesundare said. He said the policy of the new board is that SLPA should not borrow to buy computers and other equipment which last not more than 10 years. "Why should we rely on loans when we can afford without purchasing at higher prices with conditions imposed on us by others. "The current loan position is that we have so far borrowed Rs. 25 billion since 1984. "We have paid back Rs. 10 billion in capital and Rs. 11 billion in interest. If we pay back all our loans today we need another Rs. 49 billion which would be a total of Rs. 70 billion. That is almost three times the initial borrowing which is mostly due to currency fluctuations. "However, the assets we have gained on these loans are only worth Rs. 27 billion," Wijesundare said. |
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