The CHOGM 2013 website that the Government claims costed Rs. 15 million is nothing more than a rehashed version of the website created by the same Australian software firm that designed the website for the Commonwealth meeting in Perth, the Opposition charged yesterday.
Dr. Harsha de Silva
UNP MP Harsha De SIlva said the CHOGM 2013 website was designed by Australian firm Centium Software at a whopping and unprecedented cost.
“All they have done is to change the Perth pictures to Sri Lankan pictures and changed the photographs of the business leaders and officials – and it’s the same thing,” de Silva told reporters earlier today.
It was surreal that the Government had spent this kind of money on a website De Silva said, adding that the proposed Media Centre for the summit had also cost Rs. 800 million.
“The Government is in debt to hotels in Colombo after the infamous IIFA. It spent Rs. 8 billion for its failed bid to host the Commonwealth Games in 2018 in Hambantota,” he charged.
He recalled that senior Government officials who were part of that delegation had danced in a chain at St. Kitts, having a rolicking time at the public’s expense.
“We wonder how much the cost of this show will be,” De Silva said, adding that the Government is yet to reveal anything about expenditure for the Summit in Parliament.
crazyoldmansl / November 1, 2013
The country is threatened by fascism and you are worried about a website!!!! Typical of an economist I must say.
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PalmSquirrell / November 1, 2013
Actually the article is quite pertinent to the state of the country because it addresses the thieving and cheating of public funds ; in this case 15 million Rs for changing a few pics, so clearly some people along the way ripped off the tax payer.
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Max Silva / November 2, 2013
Harsha,
How much public money did the UNP waste in transporting tiger terrorists using SLAF helicopters during the phony ceasefire?Then how much public money was wasted in flying Tiger terrorists around the globe ostensibly to study federalism during the phony ceasefire?
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Michael / November 1, 2013
Crazy old man.. an apt pseudo name you have chosen. Harsha is citing the colossal cost of the web site Asian illustration of the blatant violation of all forms of accountability this regime is renowned for and is at its best busting billions of public money on the CHOGM show to prop the image of a regime that is riddled with despotism , cronysm and nepotism. The problem crazy old man is that we do not have economists of Harsha s calibre to run even the central bank which is run by clown who thinks that the rest of the world are as naive and stupid as him. So please do not shoot off without thinking. We need a vibrant oppositionm, which i hope the coming weeks will see, to stall this regime from taking thus country into an abyss that you crazy old man will surely be in and find hard to come out.
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crazyoldmansl / November 1, 2013
Good archangel, I prithee, understandeth thou not that accountability is but the bite of a flea when set side by side with torture, rape and murder which is the lifeblood of this fascist and every other regime that hath my man and woman ever been seen? Wouldst that we debate the finer points of accountability while the drunken beast drives on its genocidal path? Tis not despotism, cronyism and nepotism that sits by you at board and with which the goodly Harsha tips his verbal barbs at and tests his voice in jousting logic to no end it seems other than perhaps to polish the cap of his little ego. The clown knows full well that this is no joke and the king no joker but a veritable madman to be ignored at great peril and to be disobeyed at price ultimate alone. Verily he doth tremble at night like the sweet sweet chief justice who in his better days blah blah blah. I hope you get it. This regime itself is the abyss. We cannot escape its cold sharp clasp. Fascism has never been overthrown from within. It has to be destroyed by the goodness of the world that recognizing its great evil comes forth to make required sacrifice and kill the brutes and set the captives free.
Harsha is made of softer stuff, all watery and white and trembling and he shall surely be by far the last to willingly swallow the bitter pill that is the only cure for fascism.
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mohideen / November 2, 2013
@crazyoldmansl –
Lovely summary of the actual ground reality we are facing; So accurate and true, up to the last point characterizing the eminent economists own personal dilemma of being averse to swallowing the bitter pill of eradicating fascism for fear of repercussions from the fascists themselves.
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chandra / November 1, 2013
I believe it cost Rs 15 million for the CHOGM13 website address.
http://www.chogm13.lk
Can anyone get access to it?
I gave up after a few attempts.
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K.A Sumanasekera / November 2, 2013
Dearth of talent in the UNP shows up like a hole in the head , every time this Whizz Kid opens his mouth.
What is LKR 15 Mil in Diaspora Dollars?.
Probably the math is too complicated for him.
Colombo Intelligentsia, must be missing their true leaders like Gamini badly.
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Aruna / November 2, 2013
It was a template, downloaded for $20. Our Rajapassas think only they know IT…for the UNIX admin. Job they held in the apex of their life in the US. Fool your security men, for they think you are a good Buddhist because you do not eat sprats…but to us not quite so…for you kill humans without the bat of an eye lid!
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PASEL / November 2, 2013
PLEASE FIND OUT HOW MUCH THEY POCKET WITGH THIS DEAL
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manjula (PIM MBA 2012 batch) / November 8, 2013
lucky we did not get the chance to host the Commonwealth Games in 2018.
that’s solely luck of the citizens. if it happened Sri Lanka also would be another Greece who collapsed due to huge debt (sovereign Bond Issue )obtained to host the Olympic.
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