The National Audit Office has reported a significant financial loss during the installation of a fire protection system at the Colombo National Museum Library, amounting to approximately 90 million rupees. This was disclosed in the 2023 annual report issued by the Department of National Museums.

The audit revealed that the loss stemmed from the assignment of the fire protection system installation to an unqualified contractor. Due to the contractor's inadequate performance, the contract was terminated after an estimated 40 million rupees had already been disbursed. Initially, the project was estimated to cost 100 million rupees when the first contractor was appointed on January 1, 2021.

Following the termination, the project was reassigned to a second contractor on December 18, 2023, with a new estimate exceeding 180 million rupees. The audit report highlighted that this reassignment led to an additional expenditure of approximately 90 million rupees.