Sept 21, Colombo: A special meeting of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) was held in Parliament today (21) under the chairmanship of Prof. Charitha Herath. A number of issues including the future proceedings of the Committee and the institutions to be summoned were discussed at this meeting.

COPE members Minister Sarath Weerasekara, State Minister Susil Premajayantha, Members of Parliament Anura Dissanayake, Patali Champika Ranawaka, Rauf Hakeem, Jagath Pushpakumara, Nalin Bandara, S.M Marikkar, Madura Vithanage, S. Rasamanikkam and the Auditor General W.P.C Wickramaratne were present at the occasion.

As the COPE has not been able to hold meetings in the recent past due to the prevailing Covid situation, the Chairman of the Committee drew attention to the possibility of holding Committee Meetings three days a week from next week.

The Committee also drew attention to the progress of the implementation of the recommendations of the Second COPE Report of the 9th Parliament.

Accordingly, the Members of Parliament pointed out the need to hold a Parliamentary Debate on the COPE report with regard to the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT). Accordingly, it was decided to submit the relevant matters to the next Committee on Parliamentary Business.

The Members of Parliament also commented on the major issues currently being discussed and a number of related institutions. Among them, some of the issues related to the Ceylon Electricity Board, the Petroleum Corporation and Litro Gas were discussed. COPE chairman said that these issues will be discussed at future COPE meetings.