• Says Rs. 1 bn Govt. tender cancellation in Sept. caused shipment delays

Opposition MP Dr. Nalaka Godahewa claimed that the reason that coal shipments are being delayed in Sri Lanka is because of the Government’s attempts to issue a contract for 4.5 million metric tonnes (MT) at Rs. 1 billion despite the Cabinet approval to buy coal at the lowest available rate.

“This coal problem is nothing new. When coal is brought to Sri Lanka, according to where the power plant is, and according to the sea levels, coal can only be loaded during the first six months of the year; anyone knows this fact. Therefore, coal must be ordered on time. But, what happened this year (2022) was that corruption of some kind played a part. Cabinet approval had been given to buy coal at the lowest available rate. A contract for 4.5 million MT at more than Rs. 1 billion was agreed upon. The Auditor General says that this contract was not given to the people who could supply coal at a low rate, because they were giving way to some kind of fraud. The Government tried to allocate this contract to a newly established group with a history of only three months. Afterwards, when other organisations filed cases against this contract, they cancelled the tender in September. They are giving the public various other excuses to conceal this,” said Godahewa.

Speaking to the media last week, Ceylon Electricity Board Engineers’ Union (CEBEU) President Nihal Weeraratne claimed that lengthy power cuts next year (2023) will not be prevented by a tariff hike because of the lack of coal necessary for electricity generation. 

“We can’t supply electricity just because of a tariff hike, unless the required amount of coal is provided. The tariff is being increased so that the CEB can be privatised, because anyone buying this over will not buy it at such a low cost. Money received from selling the CEB is not going to work generators, as generators need coal,” claimed Weeraratne warning that Sri Lanka might have to face a “black and dark March” in 2023 similar to the “black and dark July” of this year, as the required amount of coal needed for the Lakvijaya Power Plant in Norochcholai, which supplies electricity to 45% of the population, has not been supplied yet. 

“A minimum of at least 24 shipments of coal are needed if we are to save ourselves from this situation, but now, that will not be possible. We started bringing in the required amount of coal last year (2021), and we still had to endure lengthy power cuts, even with the required amount of coal, when fuel was limited. Now, fuel is limited and so is coal. Without coal, one can only imagine how serious power outages will be. 

“On 14 December, the percentage of water in the hydropower plants was 75% and it is gradually decreasing, more than during other years. A crisis in supplying electricity is coming. We will have to face an unusual situation. We cannot predict whether power outages will be 10 to 11 hours, or even 24 hours long.”