7 November 2017 07:39 pm
The Prime Minister was referring to a statement made by Chief Opposition Whip Anura Kumara Dissanayake and joint opposition parliamentary group leader Dinesh Gunawardene who earlier said the petrol shortage would not have taken place if LIOC was not allowed to get involved in the fuel distribution of the country.
The Premier said the current crisis was probably caused by others and that it would be probed.
“The fuel supply was maintained to some extent during the recent strike action launched by petroleum workers, thanks to the LIOC," the Prime Minister said.
He said oil tanks in Trincomalee were given to LIOC because CPC was not able to make use of it for a long time due to the lack of financial resources.
"We inquired from India whether it was interested in investing in this and they agreed and an MOU was signed," the Prime Minister added.
Referring to the allegation that he sought Cabinet approval to acquire 10 oil tanks in Trincomalee of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) with another cabinet memorandum, the Prime Minister said the second memorandum which he submitted, only said that the government should look into the agreement before making a decision.
The Prime Minister said he and the President had already discussed with the Indian High Commissioner on getting another shipment of Petrol from India and that this would be in addition to the shipment due to arrive in Colombo tomorrow. (Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana)