The Hon. Danushka Ranganath

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, thank you for the opportunity to speak to the Opposition’s Adjournment Motion. The mover presented many falsehoods and is not even in the Chamber now to substantiate them. At the start of the debate a handful of Opposition MPs staged a small protest outside Parliament—proof they cannot sustain their claims here.

¶ 02 Our Ministers and MPs have addressed the technical issues. Politically, the Opposition’s recent initiatives have all failed, so they keep launching new ones that also boomerang. On education reforms, they first called it “obscenity,” then quietly backed away. They try to piggyback on any minor public agitation by rushing to sign something in blood—this is their pattern.

¶ 03 On the coal procurement process: the tender closing date was 8 September; initially 21 days were given, extended to 28 at bidders’ request. Despite that, the Opposition alleges process faults. I will remind the House: in 2009 the first procurement was initiated and cancelled; a second was also initiated without conclusion; finally coal was purchased outside tender procedures. Similar extra‑tender purchases happened in 2011, and in 2013–2015 they failed to follow prevailing procedures. In contrast, our Government ran a proper tender with, I believe, the highest number of bidders—ten—with one successful awardee.

¶ 04 As for quality, the contract specifies remedies: if delivered GCV is below 5,900 kcal/kg, double liquidated damages are charged; between 5,900–6,150, a single rate applies. These mechanisms exist because coal is a natural commodity. We are enforcing them. There is no “scam”; the Opposition only wants to equate their past misdeeds with our current process. Sorry—we came to stop theft, corruption, and waste, per the people’s mandate.

¶ 05 Thank you.