Hon. Sajith Premadasa - Leader of the Opposition

¶ 01 Hon. Chairman, it was said in this august House that the dreams seen would be fulfilled. In fact, at the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government elections, the people too saw dreams. Those dreams were created for the people by this Government. I ask: if you are making those dreams real, why is a Rs. 9,000 electricity bill not Rs. 6,000? Why is a Rs. 3,000 bill not Rs. 2,000? Why is there no 33 per cent reduction in electricity tariffs? These are not our words; these were promised by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake. Have you implemented those promises? Why has it not happened? While saying tariffs would be reduced by 33 per cent, you go to the Public Utilities Commission with a proposal to increase. Is that fair? There are 7.5 million consumers; 5.7 million household consumers. Is deceiving consumers like this right? We ask the President and the subject Minister whether you fulfilled the 33 per cent tariff reduction promise. It has not been reduced.

¶ 02 Similarly, you theatrically asked why fuel has one price at the Port and another to the consumer—saying commissions to the Minister and officials, and taxes—promising to remove all and sell at landed price. I now ask the same Minister who made that pledge: is that too a broken promise, a deception? You said you would stop commissions and taxes. I ask the Energy Minister to implement what was promised to the people.

¶ 03 Now your latest product is the “Sahasdanavi” project—a combined cycle project using fuel and LNG. Before speaking of Sahasdanavi, have you examined Yugadanavi? It was brought as combined cycle; today it is only a fuel plant because the FSRU is still not installed. We raised this at the Sectoral Oversight Committee; officials had no answers. For Sahasdanavi, a Cabinet Paper has been presented based on false data—generation cost shown as Rs. 20 per unit by assuming diesel at Rs. 110 per litre and USD/LKR at 195. In reality, at that time the rate was around 300, and diesel about Rs. 286, not 110. The PUCSL has in writing stated the Cabinet Paper is wrong, giving three scenarios where cost could be Rs. 35, 43 or 72. Despite PUCSL flagging it as wrong, within a week CEB and LTL are proceeding to sign the Sahasdanavi agreement. This is entirely wrong. By our reckoning, about Rs. 7.3 billion loss will result, to be borne by electricity consumers. I request the Minister to correct this falsehood to Cabinet and the country.

¶ 04 You also loudly promised to promote renewables—adding 2,000 MW solar in five years. The Sustainable Energy Authority has around 680 entities, with over a million direct and indirect jobs. Rooftop solar provides about 1,709 MW; ground-mounted about 140 MW. But how do you treat solar entrepreneurs? You slash the tariff from Rs. 37 to Rs. 19. What happens to those who started with difficulty? Despite election-time praise for renewables, hydro and wind, after coming to power you have become subcontractors of the fuel and power mafia. That is the truth.