Sri Lanka Cricket Interim Committee Secretary Nishantha Ranatunga refuted allegations that the Country’s premier cricket organisation is in the red. Ranatunga speaking to the Sunday Times said “SLC is in no financial crisis at all. When we were building the three new grounds at Hambantota, Pallekelle and the R. Premadasa Stadium, we allocated a sum of Rs.3.2 billion, and we entrusted the work to two government institutions -- the Ports Authority and the State Engineering Corporation. However while the work was in progress we saw that the initial budget would overshoot and then the government agreed to give us a grant to overcome that.”
 The Cricket Secretary added that even in Bangladesh their government came up with certain grants to revamp the facilities according to World Cup standards.
Then Ranatunga added “the news about SLC being in the red is spread by interested parties. The sums of Rs. 2billion grant and the 1.5 billion loan what the Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage has been talking about is to pay back the two government institutions for their work done for the three grounds. The SLC will not get a single cent out of that sum of 3.5 billion.
“Especially the Hambantota Stadium is earmarked for future events also. The 2018 Commonwealth Games’ opening ceremony and the closing ceremony will be conducted at this stadium” Said Ranatunga.
Ranatunga also said “Last week we received a payment of 1 million dollars from the ICC and we are expecting another 6-7 million dollars from the ICC once the World Cup audited statement is made within the next three months”.
Commenting on the pilfering of some hard disks at the SLC World Cup office Ranatunga explained that the incident occurred during the last weekend and it was brought to the notice of the Police on Monday and the investigations are going on. However he added that according to the Director World Cup all backups are available for auditing.
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