The Cabinet has cleared Diesel and Motor Engineering PLC (DIMO) to supply 200 Tata Yodha single-cab pickups to the Sri Lanka Police at Rs. 4,785,000 each, excluding taxes, the Daily Mirror reported on Tuesday afternoon. EconomyNext carried the same decision, attributing the announcement to Cabinet spokesman Minister Nalinda Jayatissa.
The vehicles are to be bought on the local market. The proposal came from the Minister of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs.
The order is just under Rs. 1 billion, and neither filing says so
Both outlets give the unit price. Neither gives the total.
200 × Rs. 4,785,000 = Rs. 957 million, before tax. The Daily Mirror specifies the price excludes “taxes on the aggregate value,” so the amount actually paid will be higher than Rs. 957m by whatever VAT and duties apply.
What was decided in February, and what was decided on Tuesday
The two filings describe the same procurement but divide it differently, and the Daily Mirror’s version does not hold together on its own.
The Daily Mirror writes that the decision “was taken at the Cabinet meeting held on February 23, 2026, following a procurement process conducted under the National Competitive Bidding procedure, which attracted seven bids.” That sequence is self-contradictory: a February decision cannot follow a bidding round whose outcome — the selection of a supplier — is Tuesday’s news.
EconomyNext separates the steps. The February 23 Cabinet decision authorised the procurement of 200 imported single cabs for police duties. Bids were then called, seven were received, and the contract has now been awarded.
On that reading Tuesday’s decision is the supplier award, not a new purchase. The selection followed a recommendation from the Higher-Level Procurement Committee, which named DIMO as the lowest substantially responsive bidder — the standard formulation for the cheapest bid that also met the tender’s technical requirements, rather than simply the cheapest.
Eight months separate the authorisation from the award.
Stated purpose
EconomyNext reports that the fleet “is expected to strengthen the operational and transport capacity of the Sri Lanka Police in carrying out official duties across the country.”
The decision is one of several taken at the same Cabinet meeting, alongside the move to bring imported tyres under mandatory SLS standards.
Not reported: neither filing states the aggregate contract value, the names of the six unsuccessful bidders, the margin by which DIMO’s bid was lowest, the delivery schedule, or where in the police the 200 vehicles will be deployed. Neither explains the eight-month gap between authorisation and award. Neither gives the vehicle specification beyond “single cab,” and the Daily Mirror describes the purchase as “from the local market” while EconomyNext’s account of the February decision refers to imported single cabs — the two are reconcilable if a local agent supplies an imported vehicle, which is DIMO’s role as the Tata franchise holder, but no filing says this explicitly.
A caution on the vehicle name: separate public material describes a delivery of 134 Tata Yodha cabs to the Sri Lanka Police, also involving DIMO. This desk has not verified that material against a newsroom source and makes no claim about it, but it is a different transaction from the 200-unit purchase reported here. A search on “Tata Yodha” and “Sri Lanka Police” returns both.
