By Maheesha Mudugamuwa
The operation of Lanka Logistics and Technologies Ltd. (LLTL) which is under the purview of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) would be stopped by the end of this year, the ministry confirmed today.
The State Minister of Defence Ruwan Wijewardene told The Morning that the President, in his capacity as the Minister of Defence, had taken the decision to close down the Lanka Logistics as its service was not needed in the future.
However, the decision was yet to be passed on to LLTL as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of LLTL Dr. Lalith Liyanage said that he was not officially informed about the decision.
He said: “We have been informed recently that future projects and procurement will be handled by the Defence Ministry, but we do not know how.
We didn’t get new purchasing inquiries from MoD for a number of months.”
LLTL is a state-owned company operating under the purview of MoD to assist MoD, Defence Forces and other government organisations in procurement of restricted military ordnance and management of special projects with a significant impact on national security. The process was aimed at upholding the principles of good governance in defence procurement while maintaining external secrecy and internal transparency whilst adhering to financial and administrative regulations of the Government of Sri Lanka.
Dr. Liyanage elaborated that the company was able to reduce the total cost, minimise malpractices including payment of illegal commissions and gratifications to intermediaries and thereby bring immense savings to the country.
He confirmed that currently there were 21 employees at the company.
Highlighting the current procurement, Dr. Liyanage noted that the company had completed the sale of items from the Surplus Defence Ordnance list by earning $ 8.8 million to the Treasury but the company had no idea how the rest of the items would be sold with the decision taken by the Government to dissolve LLTL.
In addition, the company was currently following up with the SL Army’s UN deployment deliveries, after sales queries and the SL Army’s modifications/repairs of battle tanks for future use, and has imported five million rounds of ammunition and 250 grenades for SL Police and SL Navy orders for which were placed last year.
Dr. Liyanage further mentioned that they had received an inquiry from ITN to carry out their international media equipment procurement in the future and the Central Bank sought their advice to purchase a Treasury Management System recently.
Highlighting the projects the LLTL is currently focusing on, the CEO said the Project of Solar Power for three armed forces’ camps, Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre project, Maritime Surveillance System project, State Intelligence Service Automation project, Strategic Defense Communications Network project, Ammunition Manufacturing Plant project, Military Grade Shoes Manufacturing Plant project, Ammunition Storage Facility project, Expired Ammunition dismantling plant project, Kandy Municipal Council Automation project and Security Scanning Equipment for PSD/PMSD/STF/Prisons/Airport Aviation were initiated and handled by LLTL as the Cabinet approved Project Manager and Procurement Facilitator.