Cabinet defers decision on second LNG plant in Kerawalapitiya

• Decision to be taken after FR case on matter concludes

By Chathuri Dissanayke

The Cabinet of Ministers yesterday decided to postpone the decision to award the tender on the second LNG plant in Kerawalapitiya until a Supreme Court ruling was given, highly-placed Cabinet sources revealed.

A Fundamental Rights petition filed by National Movement for Consumer Rights Protection in Sri Lanka Chairman H.W. Ranjith Pushpa Kumara was fixed for support by the Supreme Court on 11 July. The Cabinet decision on the matter has been differed until the outcome of this case, the Daily FT learnt. The Cabinet was to decide on the company to be awarded the tender for the construction of the 300MW HFO/NG fired power plant at Kerawalapitiya on a Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) basis after Cabinet appointed a three-member committee to make final recommendations on the matter.

The committee was appointed after a proposal by the Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, recommending a Chinese company as per the Procurement Appeal Board (PAB) decision, came under severe criticism from Cabinet as it overlooked the lowest bidder Lakdhanavi Ltd.

According to reliable sources, when the matter was discussed yesterday at the Cabinet meeting, President Maithripala Sirisena had said that the decision should be postponed till the court delivers its ruling on the matter.

The state-owned entity Lakdhanavi Ltd. was the lowest bidder for the project and was recommended to be awarded the job by both the Cabinet Appointed Procurement Committee and Technical Evaluation Committee.

However, the bid by Lakdhanavi was thrown out at the appeal stage and the Chinese-owned Consortium of GCL, WindForce and RenewGen was recommended based on a nine-page letter written by Power and Renewable Energy Ministry Secretary Dr. B.M.S. Batagoda. This week Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera also submitted his opinion on the matter, echoing Dr. Batagoda’s position on the issue.