The Hon. Anura Karunathilaka - Minister of Urban Development, Construction and Housing

¶ 01 Hon. Member, the NEMO has a regrettable history. It began under the National Housing Development Authority, then was merged with the State Engineering Corporation (SEC). A Cabinet decision on 27.04.2021 merged NEMO under the SEC. Another Cabinet decision in January 2023 placed its remaining staff on a voluntary retirement programme and resolved to inactivate the organization. Consequently, equipment used across projects was left in various localities. We have started locating and moving those machines into SEC yards. A practical difficulty is resistance where contractors have not been paid; some equipment was even left in temples and attempts to retrieve them met community resistance. Nevertheless, we are compiling information to bring the equipment back under SEC custody. We intend to conduct a review into the causes that led to this state, but the audit work has not yet commenced; we are still in the information-gathering phase.