The Hon. Wasantha Samarasinghe

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, a wrong picture is being created, even misleading some Opposition MPs, to undermine the core purpose of establishing the National Agri Market Services Limited (NAMSL) by a group of traders—not all of them. Therefore, Hon. Member, we have established NAMSL. The prior Cabinet approval has been amended by a fresh Cabinet Memorandum and regularized; you can find it. There is no legal issue. It is a fully state-owned company under the Secretary to the Treasury. Appointments to a state company’s Board are made in various ways. The Treasury Secretary finalizes appointments. Four Ministry Secretaries and three appointed by the Minister sit on it, with final approval by the Treasury Secretary.

¶ 02 The problem is not ownership—legally it rests with the Ministry Secretary—but decisions taken in managing it have led to conflicts and issues. For example, at Kurunduwatta Economic Centre, shop rooms 9, 10, 11, 12 are being used by Hatton National Bank to carry out banking inside the centre. Shop rooms are for centre activities, not to rent to banks or others. In one place, a single person holds seven shops. I have the list tabled. When shops meant for operations are given, some sublet or sell them. In Dambulla two shops were sold two months ago—one for Rs. 50 million and another for Rs. 75 million. They are state property.

¶ 03 NAMSL was set up to properly manage our 18 economic centres across the country. In Colombo District there are four—Narahenpita, Ratmalana, Boralesgamuwa, and Meegoda—each operating differently. They should operate uniformly. Especially decisions on tenders are executed by the Ministry Secretary.