Red flags all along - Lanka Coal Co.

Chairman, Lanka Coal Company and Attorney-at-Law Maithri Gunaratne had highlighted the irregularities in awarding the many tenders. He told the Sunday Observer that there were red flags all along and that many of these issues should have been looked into. He even wrote to the Standing Cabinet Appointed Procurement Committee (SCAPC) requesting them to remove two conditions from the tender process.

"When a special Cabinet tender committee decided to do away with the size criteria, we should have gone back to square one and told the bidders or called bids afresh," he said. "But that wasn't done. Instead changes were made midstream which is not practical."

Gunaratne also referred to the change of index from Newcastle as previously stated on the bid documents to AP14 the South African index which was used later on. "You cannot do that or it should not have been allowed." He added that according to bidding documents, there is no provision to purchase different quantities at different prices or change the price index from New Castle to AP14. Neither can the committee ignore the levy for deviation of size parameters of coal in price adjustment for quality.

When asked about the environmental concerns and repercussions arising from procuring coal with small particles, he said that it was grossly ignored. "After I took over in January 2015, I made several visits to the Norochcholai power plant and even spoke to residents nearby but they didn't have many complaints, however, when they did away with the size criteria, the effect was instant, tangible and lethal," he said. "There are nearly 400 people who are staking claims over environment pollution."

He added that there are wind mills at Norochcholai adjoining the plant due to the wind speed and the direction the wind blows. "That tells us this area experiences heavy winds with speeds going up from 60 kmph to 100 kmph, which only exacerbates the existing situation when you have six months of coal power stock piles in one location."

"It's not practical or fair to make ad-hoc changes after the bids are called," he said. "If there needs to be changes in technical specification, we should have got the experts to give their recommendations."