The Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) recently revealed that the Western Provincial Council (WPC) defaulted Rs. 2.5 billion in Stamp Duty payments which have accumulated for years. Although the WPC had promised to make arrangements with their Revenue and Finance Department, there has been no clear indication on when the monies would be released, the CMC Treasury Department confirmed. While the date to settle the outstanding amount is not clearly communicated by the WPC, the CMC is facing a financial crisis in having to foot bills for implementing preventive measures to control the spread of Covid-19 as well. Municipal Commissioner and Attorney-at-Law Roshanie Dissanayake, speaking to The Sunday Morning, said the pandemic control programme has added to the financial stress. “The administration had to bear unexpected expenses over disinfecting public areas, high-risk zones, and zones that were coming out of isolation. Moreover, the Municipality was also to allocate budgets to carry out mobile sample collections in various areas where infected patients were reported,” she said. Dissanayake further noted that the added burden of having to recover years of outstanding payments from the WPC has only made matters worse. – Sarah Hannan