Coal quandary Who used coal for power generation without quality clearance?

 By Yohan Perera  and Ajith Siriwardana  

In the wake of controversy surrounding the substandard coal shipment, Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody said yesterday the Ministry would probe how a portion of the freshly imported stock was used for power generation at the Lakvijaya plant without obtaining quality clearance from an accredited laboratory.   

The Minister said that the quality test done by the Lakvijaya laboratory could not be accepted. He said coal from the new shipment had been used even before unloading was completed and despite availability of a stock from the previous shipment to last till the end of next month.   

The Minister told Parliament that the samples of the first shipment of 60,000 tonnes of coal brought down by the new supplier Trident Chemphar have been tested by the Lakvijaya laboratory and reported that four samples contained coal below the expected calorific value.   

He said however, the reports of the Lakvijaya laboratory could not be accepted as it is not an accredited laboratory and said that action will be taken in accordance with the agreement with regard to the shipment once the report from an accredited laboratory was received. 

The Minister said coal stocks of the new shipment have been used for power generation even before the shipment was unloaded and pointed out that investigation will be conducted into how the stocks were used and publish the reports without approval.   

He said there was an accepted procedure to follow when using coal stocks for power generation and that the new stocks had been used even when old stocks imported for last year were available until February end.   

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) MP D.V. Chanaka alleged that there had been financial corruption behind the coal deal claiming that the government had incurred a loss of Rs. 100 billion and alleged of a direct link with the energy minister.   

He said only 107 metric tonnes were required per hour to generate 300 megawatts previously and that in the new coal stocks, 120 metric tonnes are required to generate 300 megawatts per hour. “This means that 13 extra tonnes are required per hour and 936 tonnes in extra for a day. For a year, six shipments in extra will be required. It is an additional cost of Rs. 100 billion.” he said.