Verité Research launches ‘Infrastructure Watch’ to track transparency of large-scale infrastructure projects

Verité Research has launched a new dashboard inside its PublicFinance.lk platform. The dashboard is called ‘Infrastructure Watch’. 

It is an online trilingual dashboard that assesses the proactive disclosure of information online by the ministries and agencies responsible for the implementation of 60 ongoing large-scale infrastructure projects worth over Rs. 1 trillion. 

The Right to Information Act No. 12 of 2016 mandates the responsible minister to proactively disclose all information related to projects that exceeds US$ 100,000 and Rs. 500,000 for foreign and locally funded projects, at least three months prior to commencement.

The requirement is that the information should be disclosed in digital format on the ministry website in Sinhala and Tamil, and if feasible in English as well. 

‘Infrastructure Watch’ assesses the online availability of 40 different types of information within five broad categories. In addition to the proactive disclosure assessment, the dashboard also provides access to an online repository of procurement contracts and loan agreements of various foreign-funded infrastructure projects received by Verité Research. 

University students and researchers will be able to access the research methodology and download the database of information and analysis in the form of an excel sheet from this dashboard. 

The present economic crisis is partly due to opaque decision making and corrupt implementation of projects through increased debt. 

The ‘Infrastructure watch’ dashboard will increase awareness among the public and government agencies on the importance of proactively sharing information on large infrastructure projects. It will enhance the space for public engagement and help to reduce corruption in decision making and implementation around infrastructure projects.