- Ministry denies TU allegations
The Ministry of Transport and Highways yesterday (1) rejected claims by Sri Lanka Railways Trade Unions (TUs) that the telecommunication network of the department was to be handed over to a private company.
Last week, TUs attached to Sri Lanka Railways urged the Government to take immediate steps to stop the handing over of the telecommunication services of Sri Lanka Railways to a private telecommunication company which recently conducted the Islandwide Telecommunication Upgrade Project with funds from Asian Development Bank (ADB).
According to the trade unions, the said project which had been carried out at a cost of around $ 10 million with the funds received from ADB had been unsuccessful.
They charge that even after showing the futility of the project and the inability of the company to deliver on the requirements, the Ministry of Transport and Highways was attempting to hand over yet another communications system of the department to the same company.
Railways Trade Union Collective Convener Indika Dodangoda said that the Islandwide Telecommunication Project for the railway service, which was implemented under the loan facilities of the ADB at the cost of billions of rupees (nearly $ 10 million), was “useless” as it could not be used at present.
“This project is implemented by a leading private telecommunication company in our country. Due to the ineffective implementation of this project by the institution, it has become a system that is of no use. Somehow they have got all the money related to this project but the proposed training related to it has not been done properly and there are many deficiencies,” he stressed.
Dodangoda alleged that despite this, due to its influence, preparations were underway to hand over the entire telephone system of the railway service to the said company.
“They are planning to remove all the telephone services of the State-affiliated Sri Lanka Telecom company, which is currently in the railway service, and replace them with telephones of this private company,” he stressed.
Nevertheless, when contacted, Transport and Highways Ministry Secretary M.M.P.K. Mayadunne denied the allegations, claiming that such a massive project had to be implemented after calling for Expressions of Interest (EOIs) and that no such process had occurred. He added that there were no plans at present to do so either.