Sep 17, 2019 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena said that there were issues concerning the Lotus Tower project where an estimated 2 billion rupee loss was incurred to the Government.
“The Lotus Tower was a tripartite agreement, the Sri Lankan and Chinese Governments were part of that agreement with another third party company named ALIT, " he said.
"The Sri Lankan Government made an advance payment of 2 billion rupees to that company but that company suddenly disappeared after 2016."
President Sirisena said the funds otherwise could have been used for welfare purposes.
The contract to build the tower was awarded in 2012 to China National Electronics Importers & Exporters Corporation (CEIEC) and Aerospace Long March International Trade Co. Ltd. (ALIT) by the Cabinet of Ministers.
The President further said that following the disappearance of the third party of the agreement the Chinese Exim Bank did not release the balance of the loan.
“Total cost of the project was 16 billion rupees as per the agreement made with the Chinese Exim Bank, which was supposed to provide the total amount but following the disappearance of the company, the bank only released 12 billion rupees.”
The Tower, the tallest in South Asia, was declared opened to the public yesterday by the President, yesterday.