The Cabinet of Ministers has granted approval to relocate the Ministry of Justice to the World Trade Centre (WTC) for two years starting from next year at a cost of more than Rs 400 million, Colombo based weekly, The Sunday Times has reported.
Accordingly, a floor area of 35,071 square feet of WTC tower is to be rented out to the ministry from January 1 next year to December 31, 2022. The Treasury has already allocated funds amounting to Rs 233,086,544.00 and Rs 174,075,701 as rent for next year and 2022 respectively.
A Cabinet Memorandum from the Finance Ministry said that ‘Cabinet approval has already been granted to implement the ‘House of Justice” project. Accordingly, based on the facts highlighted in the Cabinet Memorandum, I have no objections to lease out the said floors of the WTC as an interim solution until the completion of the project,” Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa said in his capacity as Minister of Finance.
The move to shift the Justice Ministry to a new building came as it was decided to convert the current Justice Ministry building at Hulftsdorp as a court complex for the usage of the Court of Appeal since some 14 new judges were appointed this week by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Critics say the decision to relocate the Justice Ministry to a private building at a rent of 400 millions of rupees belonging to taxpayers is contrary to the cost-cutting policies being advocated by the Government.
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