The Hon. (Dr.) Harsha de Silva

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, I present the Report of the Committee on Public Finance on: (i) the Regulations made under Section 71 of the Colombo Port City Economic Commission Act, No. 11 of 2021, published in Gazette Extraordinary No. 2469/02 of 29th December, 2025; and (ii) Determination of Remuneration and Conditions of Service of Officers and Employees of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption under the Anti-Corruption Act, No. 9 of 2023, included in the Addendum to the Order Paper of Parliament No. 3(8) of 06th March, 2026.

¶ 02 Ordered to lie upon the Table.

¶ 03 Hon. Speaker, allow me two minutes to explain two matters.

¶ 04 First, regarding the Port City: the Commission presented only general matters such as building heights to our Committee. However, we discovered that two leading property development companies in Sri Lanka had advertised apartments for sale without obtaining Parliamentary approval. Parliamentary approval is required. The laws governing the Port City were enacted by this Parliament; powers of Parliament cannot be delegated to the Colombo Port City Economic Commission. We discussed this at length and advised that such advertisements be stopped immediately because the Commission cannot usurp the authority of Parliament.

¶ 05 Second, under the Anti-Corruption Act, we did not agree previously, including in 2023 during discussions with the then President, on the remuneration for the Chairperson and Commissioners. They gave us an undertaking that the salaries of those posts, including the Director-General, would be aligned to those of Judges of the Court of Appeal. This has still not happened. Parliament only approved up to the level of Deputy Director-General and below. Also, there is no distinction between State Counsel in the Attorney-General’s Department and legal officers at CIABOC, yet take-home pay at the AG’s Department is higher. We instructed that an amendment be brought to rectify this disparity.

¶ 06 Thank you.