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Harsha defends Suwasariya costs

02 Jun 2021

  • “Taxpayer not burdened even a rupee” 

By Buddhika Samaraweera   Opposition Parliamentarian Dr. Harsha de Silva said that, despite various allegations that Sri Lanka did not receive the 1990 Suwa Seriya ambulances free of charge, all of them were received free of charge and that no money was spent by the taxpayers of the country.  The Samagi Jana Balawegaya MP said that all the money spent on it was donated by the Government of India as a nonrefundable grant of $ 22.7 million.  “I mentioned that when the present Government bought 10 ambulances, the price was too high. I made this comment when the present Government was trying to buy one ambulance for Rs. 19,400,000. I said that a Suwa Seriya ambulance with all the equipment was purchased in March 2018 at a price of Rs. 5,400,000.”  He added that the Government of India had offered a grant of $ 22.7 million to purchase luxury ambulances and all the equipment required for it, to set up a call centre, to train all staff in India and Sri Lanka, and to pay the salaries of all employees until mid 2018. According to him, the relevant grant had been given in two stages.  In a media release, Dr. de Silva said: “With that money, equipment including ambulances has been purchased from Tata. Some of the equipment needed for these ambulances has even been purchased from the US. However, all the money spent for this has been paid from the grant given by the Government of India. The people of Sri Lanka have not spent a rupee for that. At the time, a Winger ambulance was purchased for $ 19,130. This includes the cost of converting a Tata Winger into an ambulance. A sum of $ 15,798 has been spent to purchase the necessary equipment and medicines as well as to pay the shipping insurance premiums for the importation of these ambulances.”   


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