The Hon. Sajith Premadasa - Leader of the Opposition

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, under Standing Order 27(2), I raise the following question:

¶ 02 Across the country there is public focus on failures and lack of transparency in the tender process for supplying coal to the Norochcholai Lakvijaya Coal Power Plant—a critical facility in national electricity generation. Therefore, as a matter of national importance, I pose these questions to the relevant Minister:

¶ 03 1. How was this questionable tender for coal conducted? Does the Minister accept that this was not a mere technical error but a governance failure that jeopardized energy security and exposed public funds to risk?

¶ 04 To explain: a 900 MW plant requires about 2,500 metric tons of coal per day and 1.5 to 1.7 million metric tons annually. Due to the monsoon from May to August, coal cannot be stockpiled then, so every year sufficient orders must be placed by April and concluded by August. The Government deviated from this and called the tender in August. Please clarify.

¶ 05 2. Reports state the tender period was reduced to 21 days from the usual 42. Under whose approval was this reduction done? If so, can the approvals be tabled?

¶ 06 3. What were the prior technical/financial qualifications required in earlier coal tenders? Has the Government changed, relaxed, or removed any such conditions this time? For instance, earlier suppliers had to have supplied over one million metric tons; now it has reportedly been reduced to 100,000 metric tons. Who approved this relaxation, and which officials approved it?

¶ 07 4. How many bids were received? Can the full bid evaluation report be tabled?

¶ 08 5. Did the selected supplier have prior experience supplying to large coal plants like Norochcholai? If not, why assign such a critical supply to an unsuitable company?

¶ 09 Previously, eligibility reportedly required firms to have traded at least one million metric tons with a GCV of 5,900 kcal/kg. How was this requirement set aside?

¶ 10 6. Is it true the tender required coal with an NCV of 5,900 kcal/kg? Were the coals delivered to Lakvijaya below that? Did the Government receive such reports? Were the boilers charged before test reports arrived? Who approved that, and under what legal basis?

¶ 11 7. Were samples sent to India or any other country? When, and have the reports been received? If not, why the delay?

¶ 12 8. Due to substandard coal, is coal consumption per boiler per hour reported to have increased from 107 to 120 metric tons? Does the Minister accept that this would cause over Rs. 10 billion in losses to the country?

¶ 13 9. Will increased consumption exhaust annual coal stocks early? Has any risk assessment been done on boiler damage, reduced efficiency, and reduced plant life due to low-quality coal?

¶ 14 We look forward to the answers.