Public Administration and Management Minister Ranjith Madduma Bandara said Public Administration of the country is set to go through a restructuring next year in a bid to make public service more efficient and productive.

Minister stated that “Currently, public employees get promoted based on years of service and their grade, where they ascend to one grade from the other over the years. That system has its disadvantages, because some dynamic employees in low grades will not get a chance to expand their careers. The new productivity based promotion system will help the efficient and productive employees to overcome this hurdle,” the Minister said at a media briefing held at the Department of Information yesterday.

Accordingly, the Government plans to establish a productivity based promotion system with the intension of facilitating capable hard working employees, Bandara said. 

A new pension scheme based on contribution will replace the existing system for all public sector recruits since January 2016, Minister said, adding that the 2017 budget has allocated Rs. 1 billion for this purpose.

The proposed Agrahara insurance scheme will be made available for all public sector employees to claim benefit without age limits from next year. 

Minister also highlighted that the Government has not taken any decision to introduce flexible working hours for public and private sector employees as a solution to ease the heavy traffic in the capital. 

He said that a change in working hours could create more issues for the public who need to access public servants to obtain their services.