Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa told Parliament today (20) that the public would take to the streets if the government attempts to recover losses without conducting a proper investigation into the alleged substandard coal scam.
Joining the parliamentary debate on the coal tender, the Opposition Leader accused the government of committing serious corruption.
Premadasa further stated:
“At this time, when the House is discussing the matter, the issues of coal corruption, coal fraud, and the coal tragedy must be highlighted. Roughly speaking, the country requires 37 coal shipments annually. So far, 11 shipments have arrived, all of which were Russian coal. There has been no issue with the quality of Russian coal.
“However, there is a problem with the South African coal brought in through the new tender.
“I have learned that 25 shipments have been ordered under the new tender. Coal can only be imported into the country from September to April; therefore, the tender process will conclude in April. All eight shipments received so far under the new tender contain inferior coal.
“Due to the inferior quality, we will have to order more coal than expected. At the same time, there will be a shortage. Either we will have to import additional coal, or we will have to generate electricity using diesel, and fall into the hands of the diesel power plant mafia.
“In the end, the consumer will have to bear this cost. The government has already proposed an electricity tariff increase in April. Not only in April, but the data clearly show that electricity tariffs will rise again afterward.
“Low-quality coal inevitably damages equipment. Substandard coal has been imported. This has been proven with scientific, real-time data that cannot be tampered with. Therefore, we strongly request the government to conduct a full investigation into this coal-related corruption.
“We will not allow the losses caused by this coal corruption to be passed on to consumers. We will take the electricity consumers of this country to the streets and ensure that the losses and damages are recovered from the government led by the Minister,” the Opposition Leader said.
