The Hon. (Dr.) Upali Pannilage - Minister of Rural Development, Social Security and Community Empowerment

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, from this morning the Opposition has been clinging to fabrications, advancing baseless suppositions, and then splitting among themselves over those very proposals while the public has been listening to this debate. The people now understand that the Opposition is trying to wash off their own past misdeeds. For years, these two main parties governed, and today from the Opposition benches they speak about the very acts they themselves committed in power. It is almost gratifying to hear them recount their own records.

¶ 02 Hon. Presiding Member, the motion before us is entirely without foundation. Our Ministers and Government MPs this morning clearly demonstrated that. What is happening to the Opposition? They are desperately looking for something to latch onto because they know why the public rejected them. They now try to claim this Government is “also theirs,” to pretend continuity with their past. Both our President and others have said repeatedly that if the Opposition wants to regain power, they must present a better programme to the people. Unable to do so, they shout in Parliament and mislead the public with falsehoods. The public does not accept these criticisms. People remember how the Opposition governed, how they misused public funds, and the corruption they engaged in. The country still remembers.

¶ 03 All morning they grabbed hold of a so‑called coal tender “scandal.” One claim is that our Government altered the specifications for this coal tender. I regret that an Opposition MP confused observations with recommendations—when agitated, even the learned get them mixed up. You do not implement “observations”; you implement recommendations.

¶ 04 They cite a report dated 30 September 2022 to say we changed specifications. That is false. We did not change specifications then. We changed them in 2023, after considering the 2022 report’s observations and recommendations. The current tender was awarded on the basis of the 2023 specification changes. There were no further changes during the period after the 2024 presidential or parliamentary elections when the National People’s Power formed the Government.

¶ 05 We all know who held power in 2023. Even so, those who made the 2023 changes produced some justifiable outcomes: the number of registered suppliers rose from 10 to 26, improving competition. Anyone with basic understanding knows that increasing the number of competitors benefits consumers. Yet the Opposition seeks to circulate the blatant lie that “we” changed specifications improperly.

¶ 06 They also claimed Cabinet decides procurement. We know how Cabinets under their governments decided such matters. Today people even ask us whether we will wield our two‑thirds majority. But this is a democratic Government. We do not interfere with the procurement process by Cabinet fiat. There is a National Procurement Commission, and the tender proceeded under the national procurement process. Previously, before 2023, coal was procured in 10 days without proper tender procedures—completely violating financial discipline and due process. We ended that era. In this tender we allowed an initial 21 days plus an additional 7 days—28 days in total—and followed procedure correctly.

¶ 07 They challenge coal quality. Coal is a natural resource; internationally accepted, expert‑endorsed standards define quality, not arbitrary domestic decisions. The principal yardstick is the gross calorific value (GCV). Generally, accepted GCV ranges for this application are around 5,900–6,150 kcal/kg. This tender was aligned to those standards.

¶ 08 We also discussed penalties when delivered quality deviates within permitted tolerances. This is not new: in 2020–2021, US$ 4.54 million was levied; in 2021–2022, US$ 6.1 million; in 2022–2023, US$ 7.8 million. If there were no standards or mechanisms, why would penalties have been imposed then? Similarly now, approximately US$ 2.1 million in penalties have been imposed for variances. These are established practices to offset losses to the system and public.

¶ 09 Another concoction is that losses from this tender are being added to electricity tariffs. They even stage small gatherings outside to agitate the public. Earlier they said the economy would collapse, culture would collapse, and international recognition would vanish—none of that happened. The economy is improving and households are stabilising. Lacking real issues, they now try to manufacture new crises, predicting an “April crisis,” and waiting for failure.

¶ 10 Since 2011, this power plant’s coal quality has been handled under these standards, with penalties for variance. If they now claim such penalties were historically loaded into tariffs, that reflects what they themselves did back then. This tender cycle is not over; where lower‑quality coal shipments arrived, penalties have already been imposed, just as in the past. Those amounts flow back to the Ceylon Electricity Board, offsetting impacts. So their story of “losses” being put on the public is false.

¶ 11 Finally, critics attack the current supplier because, for years, they repeatedly awarded coal to one supplier—now that firm did not win. In 2022 they even used Cabinet approval to award coal to an unregistered company. We haven’t done that. We followed the National Procurement Commission’s process throughout.

¶ 12 They also float more suppositions about a proposed limited liability company for coal. I will place on record that the Limited Liability Lanka Coal (Private) Company was incorporated on 23 January 2008 under Cabinet approval taken under the Companies Act No. 7 of 2007. The public should know its shareholding: 60% to the Ceylon Electricity Board; 20% to the Treasury; 10% to the Ports Authority; and 10% to the Ceylon Shipping Corporation.

¶ 13 The Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) discussed coal procurement at Lakvijaya for 2009–2016 in a 2020 sitting. Between 2010 and 2015, Noble Resources Limited supplied 4,583,670 metric tonnes. COPE revealed that no valid tender process had been followed for those procurements; I state this responsibly per the COPE report. Those who caused losses by bypassing tenders now accuse us. We have adhered to the National Procurement Commission’s proper tender process, with competition among more than ten firms and competitive pricing. In the past, failure to supply coal on time caused the plant to shut for 24 days from September to October 2011, causing losses estimated at Rs. 3,500 million. From August to September 2015, units could not operate properly. In 2014–2015, due to improper coal supply, losses to the Government were around Rs. 12,500 million. Where did those “savings” go then?

¶ 14 Our vision for energy is broader: we pursue energy security with 70% of generation from renewables, including wind and solar. Hydropower is nearing its limits; we are expanding wind and solar aggressively. There will be no energy crisis while we implement this programme.

¶ 15 Thank you.