The Mahaweli Authority has been instructed by the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) to review its policies and procedures and completely reimagine the organization as it is today.
The Mahaweli Authority has consistently failed to provide its services with honesty and quality, prompting COPE chairman Prof. Ranjith Bandara to issue these directions while objecting to the outmoded “Vision” statement and Key Performance Indicators (KPI) of the Mahaweli Authority.
The committee also looked at the land reservation process’s lack of digital infrastructure and instructed the Mahaweli Authority to take steps to improve it.
The Mahaweli Authority was instructed by the COPE to submit the following information about the conveyance of lands: (1) Report on the current land conveyance process is due in two weeks. (2) Within two weeks, a report on how lands given for investment purposes were completed, including information on the investor and the goals of the investments, is due. (3) A report on unauthorized structures occurring under the organization’s jurisdiction must be submitted within one month.
The COPE demanded an urgent report on all lands released in 2022 in response to an inconsistency between the annual report presented to parliament and the data sought out by the Auditor General’s office. This follows the President’s instruction, which ordered a halt of the land distribution.
The COPE discovered that there were positions that had not been filled as a result of alleged internal objections for promotions to the current personnel after closely examining the Recruitment Process Management. The COPE Chairman immediately ordered that the positions be filled within the following 60 days.
The committee instructed the Mahaweli Authority to revisit all matters on July 21, 2023, for evaluation and accountability.
