The Committee on Public Finance (COPF) has slammed the officials of the Colombo Port City Economic Commission for failing to launch a website for the commission although it has been more than a year since it was established.
COPF chairman MP Harsha de Silva stressed the need for a proper online presence for the Commission, especially in a context where its registrations and submission of applications are expected to be carried out online.
Further, the Port City Economic Commission’s senior officials were denounced for failing to appear before the COPF without providing a notice of absence beforehand.
While emphasizing on the importance of the Port City project for the purpose of generating investments and the work done thus far, the COPF unanimously expressed its dissatisfaction and advised the officials to exercise a better sense of responsibility as professionals handling such project of importance.
Accordingly, the Secretary to the Port City Economic Commission was instructed to submit a by way of writing a reasonable explanation as to why senior officials were not present before the COPF when they had been summoned before the committee on December 21, 2022.
The COPF also inquired into the delay in the submission of audit reports, directing the commission’s officials to ensure the expeditious submission of the annual audit reports.
Colombo Port City (CPC) is projected to have around US $ 4.6 billion positive impact on the country’s balance of payments (BOP) per annum when it reaches the normal operational level after 2041 with an overall US
$ 11.8 billion contribution to GDP per annum, according to a study conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
PwC highlighted that the country could earn US $ 4.6 billion in net foreign exchange revenue from tourism-related industries and service exports such as IT, maritime, logistics and other professional services.
It projected that service exports would contribute US $ 4.1 billion, followed by US $ 300 million net foreign exchange earnings from the residential sector and US $ 275 million from the retail sector.
PwC noted that US $ 4.6 billion, in addition to the country’s external sector, could significantly reduce the pressure on the BOP.
