The Hon. Namal Rajapaksa, Attorney-at-Law
Namal Rajapaksa criticized the Government’s handling of the Hambantota LNG power plant project, arguing that it weakened energy security while now calling for growth and private investment. He said the PUCSL’s independence would be compromised if it followed Finance Ministry instructions, and urged the Government to focus on adding new generation capacity. He rejected claims that CEB losses were due to excess employees, stating it had been profitable despite higher staffing, and referred to earlier opposition to Minister Kanchana’s electricity sector Bill.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, yes.
¶ 02 Next, the Hambantota LNG power plant project—ultimately, you shattered the system and undermined energy security. Now you say we need growth, private investments, and to bring this and that.
¶ 03 On PUCSL: it is an independent body. If an independent body is to take instructions from the Ministry of Finance, there is no independence. PUCSL has engineers who can develop formulas; the Finance Ministry does not. What you should do is add new generation. Instead, you are doing everything else without the needed steps.
¶ 04 On employees: You say CEB loses because of too many employees. No. Even with more staff, CEB was profitable. When you fail to implement required steps, what do you do while standing on the shoulders of those employees? When Minister Kanchana brought his Bill, you said you would set it on fire the moment you came to power.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Wednesday, 6 August 2025 ·No. 1755159820030645 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Namal Rajapaksa, Attorney-at-Law. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 6 August 2025. No. 1755159820030645. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/17161