According to sources from the Presidential Secretariat, Bimal Gonaduwa, who was appointed as the Project Director of the Colombo Port City Project by the Urban Development Authority (UDA) is being sidelined by the Chinese company in charge of construction while according preferential treatment to Deputy Project Director Piyusha Gunasekara.
It is also alleged that the Chinese company is taking a special interest in her because she is known to represent the interests of the Chinese company rather than the interests of the Sri Lankan government.
Nihal and Piyusha dancing to the Chinese company's tune!
After the incumbent Rajapaksa government came to power, Nihal Fernando, the then director of the Port City Project, was removed and Bimal Gonaduwa was appointed. It is said that his removal had to do with the fact that Nihal Fernando was revealed to be a pawn of the Chinese company.
At the time Nihal Fernando was sacked, the Mangaing Director of the company that is handling the construction of the Port City Project, Houliang Jiang, had made an effort to recruit him as a consultant to the Chinese company, but the government had refused.
According to Presidential Secretariat sources, Deputy Director of the Port City Project, Piyusha Gunasekara and Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Urban Development, Anjali Devaraja have also provided preferntial treatment to the Chinese company with the support of a high ranking official of the ministry.
Furthermore, Anjali Devaraja, who was a close associate of former minister Champika Ranawaka, had joined the ministry during the good governance regime and worked as a close associate of the minister. However, it is reported that she is now criticising the former minister and has distanced herself from the former minister and appears to be a close friend of the Rajapaksa government. An engineer by profession, she was a contemporary of Champika Ranawaka during their university days.
It has been reported to the Presidential Secretariat that the two female officials have been tactfully relieving the current Project Director from his responsibilities.
It is also reported to the theleader.lk that certain officials from the Urban Development Authority and the Ministry, have been concealing who have been supportive of the Chinese company, are concealing shortcomings of the company with regard to land reclamation and construction.
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