MP Shanakiyan Rasamanickam questioned why the salaries of officials at the Colombo Port City are not being publicly disclosed, despite the salaries of the President, ministers and the Speaker being available.

“We have been informed that some officials draw salaries ranging from Rs. 1.5 million to Rs. 2 million. However, this information is not disclosed, even under Right to Information (RTI) requests. If the salaries of the President, ministers and the Speaker and Deputy Speaker are public, why can’t the salaries of these officials be made public?” he asked.

Rasamanickam also questioned whether the Port City project had delivered on its promised outcomes, arguing that its performance did not justify the costs involved.

“Colombo Port City was expected to attract US$50 billion in investments and create more than 80,000 jobs. How many jobs have been created so far? How much of the US$50 billion has actually been brought in?” he asked.

The MP urged the government to consider revoking the lease if the project had failed to meet its stated commitments.

“Normally, if an ordinary businessperson takes a land on lease and doesn’t fulfill the conditions that they gave, when they gave the proposal, the government cancels the lease. So I urge you to cancel the lease given to the Port City and take that land back to the Government of Sri Lanka, so that we can use it,” he said.

Rasamanickam also called on the Deputy Speaker to summon the Port City Commission before the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) to examine the matter further.

Referring to recent media reports of a foreigner being arrested over the alleged theft of a mobile phone, the MP claimed that criminal activity involving foreign nationals was becoming associated with the Port City project.

“All these scammers are allegedly Chinese. We haven’t got anything out of the Port City, all we got is scammers and thieves” he said.