COPE convenes under Rohitha’s chairmanship amidst string of member resignations

The first meeting of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) under the chairmanship of MP Rohitha Abeygunawardana convened at the parliament complex on Tuesday (March 19) amidst a string of member resignations.

As many as 10 COPE members – namely MPs Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Duminda Dissanayake, Eran Wickramaratne, Gamini Waleboda, Prof. Charitha Herath, Dayasiri Jayasekara, S. M. Marikkar, Hesha Withanage, Shanakiyan Rasamanickam and Wasantha Yapa Bandara – have thus far quit the committee, taking issue with the appointment of Abeygunawardana.

At the commencement of yesterday’s meeting, the new COPE chairman stated that although it is possible to summon 363 institutions before the committee 102 institutions have not been summoned before the Committee so far.

He also made a full presentation on the objectives of COPE and the functioning of the Committee so far. According to the Parliament’s Communications Department, this is the first time in the history of COPE that a new chairman has made such clarification.

The State Plantation Corporation of Sri Lanka was summoned before COPE today to examine the Auditor General’s reports and current performance for the years 2017 and 2018. Accordingly, the Auditor General pointed out that in the entirety of 27 years, the Sri Lanka State Plantation Corporation has made a profit in only 4 years.

It was also disclosed that 7 of the 10 tea factories owned by the Plantation Corporation, which is continuously losing money, are inactive. However, the audit pointed out that the corporation had not taken any action to resume production or lease out the inactive tea factories.

Officials of Sri Lanka State Plantation Corporation informed to the COPE that the primary reason for the corporation’s continuous losses was lack of capital. The officials further commented that due to the lack of capital, the failure to use fertilizers and related herbicides at the right time was also a reason for the losses.

However, the COPE pointed out to the officials concerned that the main reason for the losses of the Corporation was not the lack of capital itself. Accordingly, the Committee presented data on the very high employee cost of the Plantation Corporation and it was disclosed that the employee cost of the Sri Lanka Plantation Corporation is about 75%.

Furthermore, there was a discussion at length in the Committee regarding the acquisition of the land owned by the Plantation Corporation given on lease basis by third parties. Accordingly, the COPE chairman instructed the officials to promptly implement the necessary legal procedures to recover the illegally acquired lands.

The COPE chairman further instructed officials to immediately re-survey the land available to the Sri Lanka Plantation Corporation and submit a detailed report on which lands have been given by the Plantation Corporation on lease basis, who are the institutions and individuals who have given the land, the money contracted for them and the income obtained from the land given on lease basis.

Furthermore, it was disclosed that the Plantation Corporation has to pay 1.5 billion in various payments including Employee Provident Fund and Employee Trust Fund for the employees of the company. Accordingly, the Chair also instructed the officials to intervene immediately and prepare a program to complete the relevant payments within the next two months.

Additionally, a comprehensive plan for the period 2024-2028 of the plantation corporation was presented to the council. However, the Committee questioned the officials regarding the lack of inclusion in the relevant business plan of the proposals prepared for the institution to gain profit. Accordingly, the COPE chairman who expressed his regret that other parties have created the compact plan without knowing the needs of his company, gave instructions to prepare a compact plan within 02 months by including the future program of the company to be implemented immediately.

Furthermore, the chairman expressed its displeasure about the absence of a proper data system regarding the vehicles of the Plantation Corporation, and Abeygunawardana instructed the officials to send a detailed report to the Committee immediately.

Yesterday’s meeting was attended by State Ministers Janaka Wakkumbura and Indika Anuruddha, and MPs Dayasiri Jayasekara, Shantha Bandara, Sanjeeva Edirimanna, Hesha Withanage, Prof. Ranjith Bandara, Jagath Kumara Sumithraarachchi, Shanakiyan Rasamanickam, Major Sudarshana Denipitiya, Upul Mahendra Rajapaksha, Auditor General W.P.C. Wickramaratne and other officials.