New laws to be drafted to make use of State’s non-financial assets

As a part of the government’s effort to boost non-tax revenue, the Cabinet nod has been granted to draft new laws to introduce a comprehensive central non-financial assets register by widening the legal scope of Controller General’s Office under the Treasury.

In line with the 2022 interim budget speech, President Ranil Wickremesinghe in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Economic Stabilisation and National Policies on Monday sought the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers to instruct the Legal Draftsman to draft new laws to develop a list of all non - financial assets of the government and to introduce a centralised database for these non-financial assets in order to effectively manage them.

Accordingly, the Cabinet Spokesperson and Minister of Transport and Highways and Minister of Mass Media, Bandula Gunawardane highlighted that the Controller General’s Office under the Treasury would receive wide powers with legal recognition for this purpose under the proposed legislation.

He pointed out that much of non-financial assets belonging to the State remain underutilised though they have the potential to generate revenue worth of billions to State coffers. For example, he said the Railway Department has a land bank of 14,000 acres. However, much of these lands remain underutilised or illegally occupied. Controller General’s Office was established in 2017 to formulate and implement reliable non-financial assets management policies, while ensuring effective use of non-financial assets to strengthen the national development framework of the government and maintain a comprehensive central non-financial assets register.

Gunawardane noted that the government could significantly boost non-tax revenue to around 15 percent of the State revenue under the proposed measures, thereby reducing indirect tax burden on the public.