The Parliament today passed to direct the Finance Ministry to reform the system so that companies that are indebted to the government and state-owned enterprises cannot be awarded major projects.
The recommendation was included in the report compiled by the Public Accounts Committee after looking into ways to recover MVR 1.4 billion owed to the Housing Development Corporation (HDC).
The report was passed by a unanimous vote of 71 MPs.
The report included seven directives. Five of them were for the HDC while two were for the Finance Ministry.
The Finance Ministry was directed to reform the system so that companies that are indebted to the government and state-owned enterprises cannot be awarded major projects and to find a way to offset money owed by the government to companies that are indebted to the HDC.
The report details the amount of money not received by HDC:
- From government institutions: MVR 54.5 million
- From state-owned companies: MVR 200.5 million
- MVR 1.1 billion from private parties
According to the report, the HDC should develop a robust system and plan to recover money from land and buildings allocated for commercial purposes and submit the plan to the committee within 30 days.
The report also ordered the HDC not to award projects to any company except after ensuring that the bidders are not indebted to the company. The report also ordered the HDC to seize find ways to seize the assets of the indebted companies.
