What is Infrastructure Watch dashboard?
Infrastructure Watch is a dashboard under publicfinance.lk that assesses proactive disclosure of information online in relation to large scale infrastructure projects that are currently being implemented. This is as per the requirement by the Right to Information (RTI) Act No. 12 of 2016.
What motivated us to do this?
During our research on infrastructure projects, we identified that,
So, we created this dashboard with the aim of
Research Methodology
What criteria were used to select the projects?
2022 Assessment
60 large scale infrastructure projects worth LKR 1.08 trillion were assessed. The projects were selected based on the following criteria:
2023 Assessment
60 large scale infrastructure projects worth LKR 2.54 trillion were assessed.
2024 Assessment
50 large scale infrastructure projects worth LKR 1.01 trillion were assessed.
Online availability of information on projects was assessed from January 2024 to April 2024.
What types of information must agencies disclose proactively?
According to guidelines issued by the RTI Commission in terms of Section 9(1)(b) of the Right to Information Act No. 12 of 2016 the agencies are required to disclose types of information listed in the table below. For this assessment, in total 40 points of information were selected, under five broad categories.
As a rule, that notice of a proposed project as prescribed under Section 9(1)(b) of the Right to Information Act No. 12 of 2016, the ministries are required to disclose information at least three months prior to commencement of such project.
Category |
No |
Information Point |
Regulation on Proactive disclosure |
Project Details |
1 |
Project Description |
|
2 |
Implementation ministry |
||
3 |
Execution agency |
||
4 |
Project Location (Province, District, Division, location) |
||
5 |
Proposed commencement date |
||
6 |
Projected conclusion date |
||
Rationale & Beneficiaries |
7 |
Project Objectives/ Goals |
|
8 |
Expected Project Outputs/Benefits |
||
9 |
Target beneficiaries/stake holders |
||
10 |
Is there a likelihood of any citizen being affected by the implementation of the proposed project? – Yes / No |
||
11 |
If yes, has adequate notice been provided to them and/or have they been consulted in respect of the project? – Yes / No |
||
12 |
If no, explain reasons for such omission |
||
13 |
Provide details/description of steps being taken to provide compensation/reparations to affected parties, |
||
14 |
Project justification (i.e. financial and social cost benefit) |
||
Budget & Financial Details |
15 |
Total estimated costs |
|
16 |
Agreed Amounts [Currency payable and equivalent in LKR] |
||
17 |
Source of finance (Foreign/ Local/ Other – eg Public Private Partnership) - Identify the foreign or local entities/ institutions involved in financing the project |
||
18 |
If the proposed project is to be implemented on the basis of a Public Private Partnerships, provide the main terms and conditions of agreement between the Government and the private sector party, including details of equity and profit share bases, financial information such as fees, tolls, or other kinds of revenue that may be collected by private sector parties under authorization from the Government. |
||
19 |
List all additional benefits/concessions offered to the contractor or private parties at the cost/expense of the State/Government of Sri Lanka to implement the proposed project |
||
Approvals & Clearances |
20 |
Date of proposed project approval from the Department of National Planning/ Economic Development Committee/ the Cabinet/Board of Investment /Provincial Council /Local Council/ Relevant Authority, as relevant |
|
21 |
Bid evaluations? Yes / No (Include date) |
||
22 |
Feasibility studies? Yes / No (Include date) |
||
23 |
Technical evaluations? Yes / No (Include date) |
||
24 |
Financial evaluations? Yes / No (Include date) |
||
25 |
Describe the Environmental Impacts on physical, biological, socio-cultural or aesthetic status, if any? |
||
26 |
Has an environmental impact assessment been carried out, where relevant? Yes / No |
||
27 |
If yes, provide details of the institution/entity that carried out the environmental impact assessment and date(s) of report(s) |
||
28 |
If no, provide reasons for the omission |
||
29 |
Have approvals from relevant regulatory agencies been obtained, where applicable? – Yes / No |
||
30 |
If yes, from which agencies and dates of such approval |
||
31 |
What approvals are pending? |
||
Procurement & Contracts |
32 |
Is the project solicited or unsolicited? |
|
33 |
If unsolicited, please provide details of the project proponent, project proposal, date when such proposal was made |
||
34 |
If funding for unsolicited projects are externally sourced Name of the funder and conditions of financing |
||
35 |
Provide details of the supplier/vendor/contractor who will implement the project |
||
36 |
Was the contract awarded? |
||
37 |
If yes, date of execution of contract |
||
38 |
If not, proposed date of execution of contract? |
||
39 |
State the number of bidders and relevant names/contact details of those who submitted bids for the project |
||
40 |
Indicate any complaints with handling mechanism conforming to accepted standards of fairness and transparency, which is accessible to the public |
What online sources were used for the assessment?
Since the Act states the ministers are responsible for proactively disclosing information, The guidelines issued by the RTI Commission states that information relating to a proposed project can be provided ‘in a digital electronic format on the Ministry web site in Sinhala and Tamil, and if feasible in English’. The assessment of online disclosure was thus carried out by investigating the availability of information on the websites of the responsible Ministries as well as the respective line agencies.
The respective agencies were identified by using the information in the ‘Progress of Mega Scale Development Projects’ reports published by Department of Project Management and Monitoring (DPMM).
It is important to note that as per the Act, the agencies can use different methods to proactively disclose information Online and Over the Counter and some other means such as billboards. This assessment investigated the level of disclosure online via the respective website/s of the responsible ministry/government agency.
The assessment investigated the availability of each type of information on the website and accessibility of the published information in all three languages: English, Sinhala and Tamil.
What method was used to calculate the average level of disclosure?
What method was used to calculate accessibility of information (or availability in all three languages)?
Limitations
[1] It is important to note that, all points of information are not equally applicable to all projects. For an example: loan amounts are not applicable for the projects which are funded by government of Sri Lanka. Therefore, when calculating the level of disclosure, we have only taken into consideration the number of applicable points of information for each project.