Through seven supplementary estimates in May and June, President Maithripala Sirisena’s office has sought Rs.380 million as expenditure for several projects. This is in addition to the annual allocation of monies for spending of the President.
These supplementary estimates were sought for the below mentioned projects.
An allocation of 10.1 million rupees to complete renovations of the senior minister’s office. Rs.70.6 million to buy a BMW motor car and 12 BMW R1200 motor cycles for the Presidential Security Division.
In addition, to rehabilitate and improve the residence of the President by joining two old houses in Colombo an expenditure of Rs.180 million was sought, through 02 supplementary estimates.
Also, Rs.2.7 million has been allocated to pay salaries of workers involved in the coordination and supervision of a science project and Rs.20.7 million for the setting up of a bureau to propagate national unity.
Another Rs.96 million supplementary estimate was submitted for two BMW motor vehicles, two vehicles for transporting President’s security vehicles and to cover additional expenses of President’s overseas visits.
Recently responding to media reports the Presidential Secretariat only clarified the expenditures sought to renovate the President’s residence (RS.180 million) and to buy BMW motor vehicles (Rs.70 million). The Secretariat failed to mention other expenses sought which have been mentioned above.
Responding to media reports regarding a government request for an allocation of Rs. 180 million to renovate and refurbish the official residence of the President Maithripala Sirisena, Presidential secretariat recently clarified that the supplementary estimate includes expenditure for several projects.
Issuing a communiqué Secretary to the President P.B. Abeykoon clarified that the supplementary estimate presented to the Parliament by the Minister of Mass Media and Parliamentary Affairs, included the expenditure of several ministries and institutions, including the Prime Minister’s Office, Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Plantation Industries, Home Affairs & Fisheries, Highways and Investment Promotion as well as the expenditure of the Presidential Secretariat.
The Secretary to the President pointed out that the Government had to rehabilitate and improve the residence of the President by joining two old houses to bring it to a proper condition which is suitable for the use of the President.
In addition to that the Government had to provide security to the official residence of the President and to provide accommodation facilities for the security personnel of the President and also steps were taken to renovate garages at the premises. The Secretary to the President further stated that all the renovation works were completed by the Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau.
According to the President’s Secretary, if the President uses the President’s House in Colombo Fort the Government would have to spend more than 15 million rupees per month for the utility costs of water and electricity in addition to the maintenance costs. President Sirisena declined to stay in the President’s House due to its high maintenance costs, the Secretary to the President further said.
Apart from Rs. 180 million, another allocation mentioned in those media reports for purchasing of a BMW car and BMW motorcycles for the Presidential Security Division were ordered in last October, 2014 under the previous government.
Accordingly, the BMW car was brought to the Port of Colombo on January 08 and the motorcycles were brought to the port on February 21. The Secretary to the President stated that these vehicles has been taken over to the Government, as these vehicles could not be re-exported and the demurrage charges were increased on a daily basis.
K.A Sumanasekera / October 10, 2015
How come there are no requests from Batalanada Ranil for any expenses?.
Is Batalanda spending his own dosh ?.
Is his friend Surendran and the UNP London picking up the tab? or is it Perpetual ????
Or Batalanda catching 103 from from Srikotha to Kotte?..
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Don Stanley / October 10, 2015
Sirisena is a national disgrace!
People are not stupid – why does he need 2 gigantic houses to live in if he is a simple man?
Sirisena is scared to live in the President’s house because Mahinda Jarapassa had various astrologers do huniyan and other witch craft there..
This is a massive waste of state funds on Sirisena and his family, he is following MR and should get the same treatment that MR got at the next elections and booted out!
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Analyst / October 11, 2015
Don’t worry ,All these turn around is to justify that what MR did during his ruling that MS can do it as well.
All his promises were fake, now he’s helping to bring back his friend and master MR to power??
It looks like the game is on now between MS and the Premier RW.
Has the YAHAPALANAYA gone to dogs.
Before there was no trust between different communities now the trust among the same community has vanished too.
Dangerous times ahead.
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Rarityminds / October 12, 2015
Guys, if we are honest to us – can anybody please add the alternatives President to do in an environment where almost over 60% are highly corrupted being further backed by crime and corruption supportive general public. i am telling this having paid a close eye to the last election results.
a) If people are comparably intelligent as it is the case in Germany, why the very same people voted for Buruwanse/GOmmanpila/Raththaran/et al even after the information of all kinds were released before the last general election
b)If people should not subjected to this blunder who should have been.
c) President SIrisena is smart enough to plann it, either go with the corrutption dominated folks to save the nation or leave it
– he chose the former since he is a given a mandate to save this nation
d)His Role is not even thinkable since the parliament is run by not his party but by Ranil (the oppo. party of the country)
e) Those who just add their THEORIEs being away from lanken active politics may be right so long they dont practise it.
e) Me being on the west for the last two decades, I respect federalism as the ONLY way out for any countries problems akin to lankens, but majority folks are in the view that will separate the country. These people that think so belong to the category of Buruwanse, Gonmanpilla or the like. And those gullible masses that would go and support them to stay in power.
f)And pennisless backborneless senior leftists would continue parasiting the situation, not being whole hearted with the issues, they go saying that any mediation of west in lanken issues as imperialism. They would even dare to say, their family life are planned by westerners – MY FOOT- these are paranoid theroies.
While living the west, I have the feeling, they dont know where Srilanka is located, nor are they aware of congo or malibu…. most of them are not even interested in lanken issues, it has been a burden to them alone tamils migrants living on the west. Actually our nation as a whole they should be thankful the west to have given refuge to srilankens (be them tamils, sinhalese or anyone).
This is the reality as I see it. They are more interested in India since indian and chinese issues are entwined with any folks regardless of being where they are. More to chinese since they are commercially highly interested to the west than indian links.
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Rarityminds / October 12, 2015
If Mr. Sirisena is a national disgrace, there should be no words to brand your beloved most abusive president we had sofar -none other than Mahinda Jarapakshe.
Or you should be fully twisted by MR s fairy tales as is the case with gullible rural folks that would ffurther go on voting him even if MRs thugs would have gone raping them. That has lot to do with the mentalities of those folks – stupidity would not allow them to turn their minds towards the right side. These are the dire consequences of keeping them in dark (away from facts and figures) for a long period such as 10 years. They thought what Hudson one eyed giant spread through national TV was right – never had the brains to see it themselves due to the influences being continued by Rjapakashe underground machanisms. Rajapakshe did almost everything to stay in power forever, was clear through letting the man twisted by SO CALLED ROYAL ASTROLOGER (whose credentials are more than doubtful not having even olevels to think it right). Anyways, MR ruled the nation to the very same manner Gadafi or Mugabe does – that kept the nation blind forever.
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Funlover / October 10, 2015
[Edited out]
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Piyal / October 10, 2015
Banda goes to town!!!
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AVB / October 10, 2015
It is not Banda, it is Gamarala(ge), I wouldn’t surprise if Gamarala try to ban this web site within the next 3 months. We all forgot that Gamarala was with MR and all other shit Siri Lankan politicians for 47 years before coming up with all those lies in last November and winning presidency….. We all should be whipped 100 times for our foolishness..
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Paul / October 11, 2015
I didn’t forget. Gamarala plans to be in power for a second term. If this was a TV thriller we would find that knowing he would not be re-elected, MR asked Gamarala to set the whole thing up.
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Paul / October 10, 2015
These new Beamers, gamayata magic. How he would be admired by all if he settled for a cheaper car. But one cant do that, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to make money.
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paul / October 16, 2015
and to live in luxury..
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csm / October 10, 2015
Please/// demolish this post of executive presidency soon… we are too poor to afford these luxuries to one person.
Top heavy spending and bottom empty pockets will be the sustained social norm in this country.
We are looking and waiting for a change that took place on 8th of January..is it just a pipe dream??
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Patriot / October 11, 2015
We are too poor to afford these luxuries to one person and that person even does not do anything beneficial to the country. Sirisena is the worst among all unsuitable executives(six in number) we had . So it is high time to abolish executive presidency!!
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Paul / October 11, 2015
High time? It has always been high time but it will never happen. Not even after he has bled us dry.
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Raj / October 10, 2015
A taste of the good life for a ‘gamarala’. No wonder politicians go back on their word on abolishing the Executive Precedency once they are in power. Are so many vehicles necessary for Presidential security & in peace time too? What a colossal waste of public funds. If they were imported by the previous regime, were they on the whim of MR, in which case, is he accused of misusing public funds?
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Know All / October 10, 2015
During the General Elections in the UK in the 50s, Harold Macmilllan, the then leader of the Conservative Party, used as an election slogan the statement ‘You have never had it so good’.
Well might one say this of our President today. The fellow surely never had it this good! And it does not seem he is about to willingly forgo any of the plums that go with his office!!!
In the end, they are all the same.
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shankar / October 10, 2015
here we go again.
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Treehorse / October 10, 2015
We are unable to understand why he could not reside at Temple tree residence. Initially , it was said that it is very extravagant place and he want to live simple. Thus choosing the current residence. We all must agree that everyone is hesitant to relocate, As a result he has chosen the current place to be his residence hopefully until his term ends.
With the aforementioned view in mind,
1. It is fair to upgrade the presidential house as he needs to receive foreign dignitaries and VIP’s.
2. As his our President, there should never be a comprise for his security. So getting the best vehicles and recruiting the best personnel for PSD is of utmost importance.
This is very little compared to the colossal amount MR estimated to spend.
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John / October 11, 2015
Temple Tress is PM official residence, though occupied by Prez. Premadasa & successors.
Premadasa a believer of soothsayers, thought Queens House (President’s House ) would not bring any good luck etc, so decided to stay at same Temple Trees which he occupied as PM from 78-88
CBK was there for some time ,
MR lived there until 9th Jan 2015,
Now Ranil resides there.
Only prez who did not occupy TT was JRJ & he spent whole tenure at QH.
Perhaps Prez. Sirisena too was advised by astrologers etc to avoid QH
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Treehorse / October 12, 2015
Thank for the informative reply.
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Paul / October 11, 2015
So if I rob a village post office of Rs2m, that’s okay because you robbed a Colombo bank of Rs200m?
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Plato. / October 10, 2015
Champagne tastes with Toddy incomes!
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paul / October 16, 2015
Actually Plato, like MR he has Toddy tastes and a Champagne income!
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Sam Jayasinghe / October 16, 2015
He is most of all our Prez. why to attack him this way.. you guys, stayed as if crocodile fed with clay at the time MR looted and rooted the nation. Paul, are u born idiot or behaves so ? Why should anyone be familiar with Champagne ? Is that our culture at all ? Ihave been getting on with all kind of pharma people across Europe jumping from one flight to another, I dont want to taste Champagne. Nor have I attacked the other not tasting them. This mentality should be treated with a therapy. You idiots feel that you guys could be better than anyone coming from a village background. That is already proved by Dayan Jayathilaka – him being cornered to his 4 walls today.
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Leelagemalli / October 16, 2015
My god, if we had your kind of ones filled inthis country, apita budusarnai.. h aha idiotic by birth.
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Avi / October 10, 2015
Keep going President!
You need only 609 more millions
to catch-up to Mahinda Jarapaksha!
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Gamunu / October 10, 2015
Sobitha!
Why are you silent, lost your voice for a reason? Guess your thatte is shining and the bank account is full! All of you are a bloody disgrace, basically worse than the LTTE!
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Patriot / October 11, 2015
Oh! Just do not blame Sobhitha Thera for every sin done by Sirisena. For your information this man Sirisena was not Sobhitha Thera’s choice. It was Chandrika and Ranil’s choice.
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bo / October 11, 2015
Most probably MS has no idea what is going on. All these boosting of expenses are most likely concerted by those very same courtiers surrounding the President, to justify their existence. More they increase the props, more commissions the courtiers get. Repetition of MR/Vaas Gunawardana syndrome all over again, repetition but this time MS/???? whoever the current courtiers are.
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Analyst / October 11, 2015
Well done. President Bonkers,,, here are the mistakes you have made from the day WE MADE YOU AS PRESIDENT!!!!
1. You made your brother CTB Boss
2. FCID and CID investigations came and went. You interfered in every case and stopped charges .
3. You allowed your friend criminal MR to contest the Election.
4. You gave Ministerial posts to all the thieves and murderers of the last Regime your friends.
5. You allowed your daughter to act as a people’s ambassodor without Portfolio.
6. You took your son to the UN against all protocols and sat him next to you.
7. Now all your Face Boards appears all over the country with your blessings.
8. Your expenses on yourself and your family has reached to sky high.
What’s wrong with you Mr President. We are a poor country? Third world,!!! Sir!!!
There are millions of questions need to be answered??
Are you running the country on you own single handedly? Dictatorial??
Have you lost your Marbles????!
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Truthspeaker / October 14, 2015
Oh Mr Analyst, you seem to have grown some grey matter in your cranium – or did you buy them from your village butchery like I suggested?
I thought you said a week ago that Sirisena critics are trying to bring back Jarapassa.
Ok, now that we are agreed, bringing back Jarapassa is not the solution, have you assigned your analytical powers devise a manner to rescue Mother Lanka? The list of misdemeanors you have compiled may be true, but what good can it do when he has decided to carry on regardless?
What about you and I follow Sirisena where ever he goes, and throw stones at him like Palestinian children do? May be other children may also join us.
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Analyst / October 11, 2015
Who would have thought his popularity would tumble down so fast. The cut outs would tumble down soon too.
Disgrace!!!! Disgrace , Disgrace
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PhD / October 11, 2015
Ranil would repeat “Lajjai!!!! Lajjai, Lajjai”
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Somapala / October 11, 2015
I am ashamed to see some comments written in CT even insulting Sobitha Thero, with their own shit.
I am not an idiot to understand who are behind.
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Analyst / October 11, 2015
Somapala
You may be disgusted about the comments here , but are you happy with the state of affairs?
This is democracy man,
The subjects have the right to question. See what happened in the past, the whole of tax payers state wealth had been plundered by the one family and their loyal servants, taken out , out of the country, lying hidden under the waters in the ocean ect, ect, ect.
We have a right to ask that any of the wealth hidden in any of the Buddhist temples too?. While the poor cannot feed children ,or educate them or have no money to go to the hospital to get treated.
Do we need to remain the Pariah state of Asia??
For the betterment of our country we should be able express our views and get corrected. All in the name of our country.
We praised and expressed our happiness when we made a change from Nepotism , Anarchy, and Dictatorial
to a likeable character in the name of Sirisena as President.
We were jubilant to have toppled that wretched Regime.
Internationally we have been accused of various I’ll doings.
For the sake of our future generation we need to accept our mistakes punish the culprits and move forward with a clean certificate of GOOD GOVERNANCE.
WE CANNOT GO ON TWICE A YEAR TO THE UN WITH LIES AND MORE LIES TO COVER UP THE MISTAKES SERIOUS MISTAKES.
Do we need to keep mum, keep our eyes closed and let the rulers run the country back to Mafia State?
What’s happening now??
Have we been taken for a ride by our President?
Are we heading towards the same state of affairs?
We need answers President?
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Jango / October 11, 2015
The photo of Maithri accompanying this post speaks a thousand words – or to paraphrase:
“Got you, suckers!”
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shankar / October 11, 2015
don’t worry folks,after all the 380M is coming from the taxpayers of pollonnnaruwa,not colombo.
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justice / October 11, 2015
The excuse that Temple Trees costs Rs.15Mn to maintain monthly, is unacceptable.
There are ways to prune the maintenance costs by deleting unwanted items of expenditure.
Temple trees is like a fortress as modified by Mahinda R.
It need not go waste.
This desire to build a new palace at the cost of semi-starving masses, is immoral, to say the least.
New vehicles too, are unnecessary.
Existing ones after repair/refurbishment are good enough.
The urge for megalomania must be curbed – maybe it has been thrust on the president, by sycophants.
Else, it will set an example to the rest of the cabinet of ministers, and public officials, especially those in state enterprises.
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Leon / October 11, 2015
How sad! This ignorant gamarala is behaving, like a monkey given the access to
a mirror and a drum, If he continues this way, uprising is in the horizon soon.
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thondamanny / October 11, 2015
gamarala attempting to emulate MR or trying to surpass him ??
OR
These new Beamers, gamayata magic or gamaya goes to town?
Those unfortunate rice farmers were unable to sell their paddy & had to perform satyagraha against the broken promises…
This is turning out to be an absolute DISGRACE.
each day is turning out to be a CIRCUS
Also we are talking of electric train even before we could settle sufficient electricity supply generating issues.
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SB / October 12, 2015
when gamarala was the minister of health he was upset with MR for not giving him the PM’s post.The best comment on this matter came from Ven Muruthettuwe Ananda who is the head of one of the nurses union.How can this person become PM when he can’t even do the job of health minister.
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BBS Rep / October 12, 2015
Rs.20.7 million for the setting up of a bureau to propagate national unity.
180 million to refurbish the presidents house and buy BMW Limos and bikes.
Just shows the priorities of the floundering president.
Only a crown is missing on his head.
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eldorado / October 13, 2015
For me this article is extremely confusing as it gives allocations made at the beginning of the year and also against other Ministries. It is further repetitive of the projects and the amounts with the intention of bloating up the allocation asked for. Could the CT itemize the projects and the amounts,being requested for the President if it can, so that the readers could get a clearer picture of what is being asked for and for what. You would then get more rational responses and not the type that is being churned out above.
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Upul / October 14, 2015
It looks like this “GAMARALA” is getting the taste of presidency. This is what happens to the human mind if it’s not controlled properly. You talk about the normal life style of an ordinary person until you see the extravagant life style that you could have as an executive president. If you have no self control, that is when you start digging your own grave. This happens to every person who lacks self control and start behaving just like a drunkard sailor.
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Harvey Perera / October 15, 2015
It appears that the President is settling down to stay in power for a long time. What happened to the promises to get rid of the Presidency? They are all the same. A lot of promises which are forgotten once they are in power. Now that he has fulfilled the US demands by co-sponsoring the US resolution they will make sure he stays in power even though the country is sold to the West. Whither Sri Lanka and the Sinhalese.
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paul / October 15, 2015
Where are those patriots who clamored ” Rs. xxx million Rajapaksa was spending on President’s House / hosting conferences etc. etc. could have been used to build yyy number of homes for the homeless” hiding these days???
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PeterPeter / October 17, 2015
Is he Smiling, Laughing and/or Hooting at all we gam idiots that voted with a little hope?
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