Rs. 15 Billion Loss! Opposition Exposes Coal Scam! | Sri Lanka Latest News

Sri Lanka has suffered a massive financial loss of more than Rs. 15 billion due to the importation of substandard, low-quality coal, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Member of Parliament S.M. Marikkar has revealed.

Citing the final report issued by the committee appointed to investigate the matter, Marikkar pointed out that the alleged fraud was more than one-and-a-half times larger than the Central Bank bond scam.

Marikkar explained how the losses occurred as follows:

Excessive Coal Consumption – The reduced calorific value of the coal meant that additional quantities had to be burned to generate electricity, resulting in a loss of Rs. 799 million.

Maintenance Costs – An additional Rs. 80.4 million was spent on maintenance and related management due to the use of substandard coal.

Ash Management – A further Rs. 13.1 million was spent on controlling the excess ash generated because the coal did not meet the required standards.

Purchasing Electricity from the Private Sector – The loss of 300 megawatts of generation capacity at the Lakvijaya Power Plant forced authorities to purchase electricity from the private sector to maintain an uninterrupted power supply, resulting in a loss of Rs. 8,573 million.

Emergency Purchases – Only 19 of the scheduled 25 coal shipments arrived. To cover the shortfall, authorities had to import 300,000 metric tonnes of coal at higher prices through emergency purchases involving five shipments, costing Rs. 2,284 million.

Government and Ministry of Power’s Response

In response to the allegations, the government has stated that the total financial loss caused by the use of substandard coal has been estimated at Rs. 15.7 billion.

However, the government has assured Parliament that Rs. 16.989 billion has been withheld from the relevant coal supplier in the form of penalties and performance guarantees. It has therefore maintained that the losses have been recovered from the supplier and will not be passed on to ordinary electricity consumers.

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