A Development Officer attached to the Central Provincial Council has submitted a bid of approximately Rs. 48 million for a Land Cruiser V8 vehicle previously assigned to the Governor of the Central Province, in an official tender that has triggered unease within the Council’s Tender Board.
Public service regulations generally prohibit serving government officers from bidding in official tenders run by their own institutions, raising questions over how the bid was accepted in the first place. The Land Cruiser, one of several high-end vehicles released for auction by the Council, was the lot that drew the eye-watering offer.
A month after the auction was conducted, bidders also complain that senior officials are deliberately delaying the process of handing over vehicles to successful applicants, according to The Island. The combination of an irregular bid and stalled handovers has put the auction itself under pressure, with no public explanation yet from Council leadership on either issue.
The Central Provincial Council disposal exercise is part of a broader push by provincial administrations and ministries to retire luxury fleet vehicles in line with the NPP government’s austerity messaging. Earlier this year, the Cabinet approved a switch to electric cars and motorcycles for the police fleet as part of the same cost-cutting drive, while ministers have publicly returned official vehicles in several documented cases.
