The name of Hon. (Prof.) Ranjith Bandara was proposed by Member of Parliament Hon. Mahindananda Aluthgamage and seconded by Member of Parliament Hon. Rohitha Abeygunawardena.
Also, the name of Member of Parliament Hon. Eran Wickramaratne for the position of Chairperson of the COPE was proposed by Hon. S.M Marikkar and seconded by Member of Parliament Hon. Rohini Kumari Wijeratne. In the voting held , 15 votes were received in favor of Hon. (Prof.) Ranjith Bandara and 07 votes were received in favor of Hon. Eran Wickramaratne.
Addressing the committee, the new COPE chairman said that one of the primary tasks of the Committee on Public Enterprise is to consider how to upgrade public enterprises. The chairman said that he expects the support of all members to carry forward the activities of the committee.
Accordingly, the Chairman said that the Coal Tender, which has been considered by the Committee Public Finance so far, is expected to be discussed in the COPE and that he intends to call the officials of the Public Enterprises Department under the Ministry of Finance and inquire about the steps taken so far on the management of public enterprises.
State Ministers Hon. Lohan Ratwatte, Hon. Indika Anuruddha, Hon. Shantha Bandara, Hon Jagath Pushpakumara, Members of Parliament Hon. Jagath Pushpakumara, Hon. Patali Champika Ranawaka, Hon. Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Hon. Rohitha Abeygunawardena, Hon. (Dr.) Harsha de Silva, Hon. Nimal Lanza, Hon. S.M. M Musharraf, Hon. S.M. Marikkar, Hon. Mujibur Rahman, Hon. Rohini Kumari Wijeratne, Hon. Sanjeeva Edirimanna, Hon. Jagath Kumara Sumitrarachchi, Hon. Upul Mahendra Rajapaksa, Hon. Shanakkian Rasamanikkam, Hon. Rajika Wickramasinghe and Hon. Madura Vithanage were present at the meeting.
