Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2021-04-05

Implementation of an Accelerated Procurement Process for implementing the Projects of Corporate Plan 2020-2025 of the National Water Supply and Drainage Board

- The Cabinet, at its meeting held on 2021‑01‑11 granted approval to implement water and sewerage projects which included in the Corporate Plan 2020-2025. It has been planned to meet 78.8% of drinking water requirement of the households in the country by 2025 through the implementation of the proposed projects. In order to achieve this target, It has been scheduled to increase the present production capacity by 2.35 million cubic metres per day and supply and laying of around 40,000km of transmission and distribution pipe lines. Further, it has been found that the National Water Supply and Drainage Board takes more time for the procurement process than the time taken by the other institutions due to the complex nature of the water sector projects. Accordingly, the proposal made by the Minister of Water Supply to procure pipes and fittings under a centralized procurement system and to introduce a unit price system for the same and to introduce a Unit Rate procedure when awarding pipe laying contracts as well, was approved by the Cabinet.