The Hon. Sunil Kumara Gamage - Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports

¶ 01 Mr. Chairman, with the brief time available in this debate on the Heads of Expenditure of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, I will present key points.

¶ 02 Our Ministry oversees nine institutions including the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium Authority and the National Youth Services Council. Our aim is to harness these institutions to help build prosperous, fulfilling lives through sport and youth development. We seek to cultivate a vigorous citizenry and a winning nation, and to foster a cultured, free-thinking, satisfied youth.

¶ 03 Under this Budget, recurrent expenditure is Rs. 7,100 million and capital expenditure Rs. 5,500 million—Rs. 8,486 million for sports development and Rs. 4,114 million for youth affairs. In the past, allocations often went unspent; we intend to utilize funds fully to deliver results. Last year, we spent around 50 percent of our capital allocation; we will strengthen execution.

¶ 04 Over the last three months we have taken many steps to reform a system burdened by long-standing crises. We pledged to amend the National Sports Act; that process, covering 73 sports, is now largely complete. This is complex and cannot be done in a day. Our objective is to address the gamut of issues raised—including by Members like Dr. Harsha de Silva—comprehensively through one reform. We have no personal or team agenda; our focus is the sport itself. We will issue a Gazette with sports regulations applicable across all 73 national federations. Legal vetting is underway; we will present it shortly.

¶ 05 We have also intervened regarding issues at the National Olympic Committee and other federations—sometimes in matters where no Minister had intervened previously—and we are ready to defend these actions in court if needed. Our approach is to resolve crises lawfully through the necessary Acts and regulations. I look forward to reporting further progress at the next opportunity. Thank you.