Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2016-03-02

Obtaining vehicles for Government Agencies under the Operating Leasing Scheme

- The Government spends a considerable amount of money for the purchase of vehicles for public institutions as well as for the maintenance of such vehicles due to the high repair costs and administrative delays. It has been proposed through the Budget - 2016 to introduce an 'Operating Leasing Scheme' to obtain vehicles for the vehicle pools of the Government institutions and the officers of the Government institutions and public enterprises entitled to have official vehicles, in order to avoid the weaknesses in the existing system, to reduce the amount of money spent by all public institutions for the maintenance of a large number of vehicles and to increase the efficiency of the Leasing industry in the country while promoting the same. Under this system, a portion of the vehicles required for the Government will be obtained on the option of 'Use and Return' on a 60 month fixed rental basis from the eligible suppliers who provide vehicle rental services, selected through the Government Procurement procedure, and the lessor will bear the expenses of Insurance covers, revenue licenses, all repair costs and the other relevant expenses, and the Government will bear only the expenses for the drivers and fuel. Accordingly, the proposal made by Hon. Ravi Karunanayake, the Minister of Finance, to implement the above methodology of obtaining vehicles under the proposed Operating Leasing Scheme, incurring an optimal costs saving to the Government, was approved by the Cabinet.