The Hon. S.M. Marikkar

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Speaker, as the State Minister of Finance and Treasury is present, I raise this now. Yesterday, the dollar was Rs. 344. Today it is Rs. 354—an increase of Rs. 10 in a day. That alone increases our rupee debt burden by Rs. 400 billion in a day. The State Minister may say debt is serviced in dollars, but I speak of the current reality and its market effects. We already saw one outcome yesterday: a packet of milk powder went up by Rs. 50. I will not belabour this; the other impacts will arrive in due course.

¶ 02 On coal, when we spoke, Government Members made various claims. Of the coal shipments that arrived so far, by the ninth vessel the public knew the story. Hon. Deputy Speaker, the calorific value of the 10th vessel’s coal was 5,220 Kcal/kg—below the 5,900 spec. The 11th was 5,110; the 12th, 5,105; the 13th, 4,985; the 14th, 5,049; the 15th, 5,857; the 16th, 4,565; and the 17th, 5,665. Seventeen vessels came; all 17 failed specification. No matter the spin, the rupee is depreciating like a kite with a broken string, and our debt increases by the hour. Meanwhile, 17 coal vessels failed. I have several reports confirming the coal failures; I table them. These are not “Marikkar’s claims” but Lakvijaya Power Plant reports and Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) reports. As per the PUCSL records, from 1st of the last month to 13th of May, Lakvijaya should have generated 155,961 MWh but did not. The shortfall had to be met by furnace oil and diesel, at significant cost.

¶ 03 Before oil prices rose, losses from the first nine vessels alone were Rs. 8,497 million. Totaling it, the losses exceed Rs. 30 billion. Yet the former Power Minister claims no thefts. But Arjuna Ranatunga and Dhammika Ranatunga faced cases for losses to the State. The State must accept responsibility—individually or collectively.

¶ 04 Some believe IMF’s US$700 million will fix everything. That amount only buys fuel for about a month and a half. The Government boasts while we suffer the fallout of weak FDI inflows. Due to incompetence and spending Rs. 66,906,550,27x (large sums) to import substandard coal, the required electricity was not generated.