Auditor General recommends for National buildings policy

COLOMBO (News 1st) - The Auditor General has recommended that a national policy on State buildings should be established in the near future.

The Auditor General has made the relevant recommendation in the audit report regarding the proper utilization of building requirements for Government institutions.

As of March 31st, 2021, the relevant audit has included 1,166 buildings used by 142 Government institutions including corporations, statutory bodies, universities, public companies and projects.

Accordingly, it has been revealed that between 2016 and 2020, Rs. 482 billion have been spent for the needs of those buildings out of the Rs. 720 billion capital allocation of the Government.

The Auditor General's report highlights that it is between 14% and 16% of the Government's capital allocation.

The Auditor General has further revealed in his report that in the acquisition of buildings for the Government works on the basis of tax, and rent being paid regardless of the assessment obtained from the Government's assessment department and cases where rent is paid higher than the approved rent from the assessment department.

The report further revealed that the Controller General's Department, which was established under the Ministry of Finance in March 2017 to maintain a fully centralized information system for non-financial assets including government buildings, has not achieved its intended purpose.

Out of the 144 audited institutions, only 7 institutions contained all the data about their buildings.

Moreover, it had been revealed in the audit that 71 out of 144 institutions are using buildings on a lease basis.

Out of the 144 concerned institutions, 118 are buildings without compliance certificate.

Out of the 144 audited institutions, 10 institutions have leased 87 buildings they own to external parties without assessing the relevant lease rent from the government assessment department.

In addition, it has been revealed that 8 government institutions have given their buildings to the private sector on lease basis without assessing the relevant lease rent.