The Hon. Dayasiri Jayasekara, Attorney-at-Law

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, I listened to Hon. Anton Jayakody’s educative address. However, when pinpointing why the country reached this state, we must also recall the role of those who, in past decades, disrupted infrastructure—toppling poles and transformers in 1971 and 1988–89, blocking Sampur and other plants, and resisting CEB restructuring—contributing to today’s deficits.

¶ 02 Your Government launched Sobadanavi (LNG combined-cycle) on 23 July 2025. Let’s examine costs. In June, the capacity charge was Rs. 340; in August Rs. 1,320; energy per unit Rs. 1,239.480 (per kWh); September capacity charge Rs. 1,193 and unit Rs. 164.868; October capacity Rs. 1,219.13 and unit Rs. 235.968; by 15 November capacity Rs. 590 and unit Rs. 598.88. These figures for the plant your Government opened raise questions.

¶ 03 On Sahasdanavi, the Cabinet paper claimed unit energy at Rs. 20; PUCSL wrote that this is false and the realistic unit will be around Rs. 70 over a 20-year horizon. While you tout cutting renewable feed-in from Rs. 37 to Rs. 19 per unit, your new thermal plants remain more expensive unless they genuinely switch to LNG. When will these diesel units convert to LNG? Provide clear timelines.

¶ 04 On storage, you called a tender titled “Establishment of 160 MW/640 MWh standalone Battery Energy Storage System from 10 MW/40 MWh AC capacity projects on BOO basis with 15-year operation – Request for Extension of the Submission Date II” on 30 July 2025, with submissions due 10 September (USD 6.6 million; ~LKR 2 billion). Bidders requested more time for site identification, bonded warehousing, and feasibility; you granted two weeks.

¶ 05 Most bidders priced inclusive of taxes and full logistics. One bidder—WindForce—submitted a bid excluding taxes. Then, on 14 October 2025, the Finance Minister issued a Gazette exempting taxes for “establishment of a renewable energy generation facility with a minimum of 1 MW or an Energy Storage System with a minimum of 1 MWh” to enhance renewable integration. The tender opened on the 14th; the Gazette was dated the 15th. How did a bidder anticipate a tax exemption on the eve of opening? This raises serious concerns about insider information.