The Hon. (Dr.) Harshana Suriyapperuma - Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, thank you for the opportunity. It is a privilege to support Hon. Lal Premanath’s timely Motion to put abandoned “development” structures and buildings to public use. These were built with people’s tax money and foreign and domestic borrowings, which the Government must service. We need to identify exactly how much was spent and ensure these assets are put to good use.

¶ 02 Sadly, many such buildings are now a menace—used for illegal activities, breeding mosquitoes, and dumping garbage. The Government still incurs maintenance costs on them, instead of earning income or delivering services to citizens, businesses and investors. Many were built below standard, and the original objectives are questionable—whether they served quality needs or merely benefited contractors and political associates. We must both repurpose them and determine what happened.

¶ 03 The Government intends to complete and repurpose these structures. This year’s Budget provides resources to convert them into markets, trading spaces, tourism and business support facilities, and educational or training centers—without further delay.

¶ 04 We will not rely only on public funds. We will engage the private sector through PPP—Public-Private-People—partnerships. Guided by the Ministry of Finance and Planning and the Comptroller General’s Office, we are identifying assets, collecting and verifying data, and developing web-based dashboards. Work has commenced. The system covers not only buildings but also vehicles, other assets, and infrastructure. The vehicle component is complete; our goal is to finish the buildings component before year’s end.

¶ 05 It is ambitious, but with our officials we are determined to deliver benefits to the people who paid for these assets. Relatedly, I update the House on the SME parate execution relief. About Rs. 212 billion of loans were in stage 3 default. Through our relief mechanism, SME borrowers holding about Rs. 81 billion have approached banks—around 40 percent of affected SMEs. Around Rs. 6 billion has already been restructured, and some repayments have begun, with certain banks offering additional concessions. We invite the remaining SMEs to negotiate with banks even though deadlines have passed.

¶ 06 In short, we will identify, complete and repurpose underutilized assets, including with new investor funds, to generate public and private income and tax revenue, and to eliminate illegal uses. Resources are allocated, political will exists, and public servants are aligned to complete this work. Thank you.