Former Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake alleges that the government is planning to procure 1,775 new double cab vehicles through a process that bypasses the required international tender procedures.
He made these remarks at a media briefing held in Colombo yesterday (29), recalling the concerns he previously raised in Parliament regarding the same procurement.
Karunanayake stated:
“A proposal was earlier brought forward to import 2,000 double cabs for Members of Parliament. At that time, I clearly said MPs do not need vehicles. If the government wants to distribute vehicles to others, they can give them to MPs from existing stocks, but there is no need to import new ones. Because of that, the proposal was withdrawn. However, this matter has resurfaced. The current plan is to tender and purchase 1,775 double cabs within just 12 days. The original 2,000 has suddenly become 1,775—excluding the 225 MPs.
The government will spend Rs. 42.8 billion on this procurement.
Only 12 days have been allocated for an international tender of this scale, when proper procedures require 42 days. To qualify, a bidder must have a minimum annual turnover of Rs. 10 billion, a network of service centers across the island, and vehicles with at least 2,500cc engine capacity. Under these conditions, only one company is eligible—raising serious questions about transparency.
The government could purchase the same vehicles from local manufacturers for Rs. 16.5 million each. Instead, it plans to buy them for Rs. 24.5 million per vehicle. Buying locally would mean a price difference of Rs. 8 million per unit — a loss of nearly threefold.
Regardless of who profits from this deal, proceeding with this procurement is a crime. Why should Sri Lanka continue to import fuel-powered vehicles? If a vehicle runs only 6–7 km per litre, the fuel cost alone would be around Rs. 8 million per year. This is a direct drain on foreign exchange. If we shift to electric vehicles, the cost per kilometre would be just Rs. 4–5. That alone would save the country Rs. 8 billion annually, and around Rs. 40 billion in five years — enough to finance a project on the scale of the Mahaweli.
Today, the Sri Lankan government already owns 87,000 vehicles, whereas the government of Australia — a highly developed nation — operates only 7,800.
If the government truly needs new vehicles, I urge them not to import diesel vehicles. Import electric vehicles instead. As I said, we save Rs. 8 billion per year on fuel and another Rs. 16 billion by avoiding overpriced purchases. Some may argue that we lack charging stations. But with the savings generated, we can set up charging networks across the country. That would be an investment for the nation, not a burden.”
