TENDER PROCEDURE MARRED WITH CONTROVERSIES
Budget 2019 only a stack of words Lakdhanavi questions legality of ministerial decision
Former Power and Energy Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said giving a contract to build an LNG power plant at Kerawalapitiya with a capacity of 300 MWS without calling tenders was not correct and would lead to more controversies in the power and energy sector. “There is no doubt that we must go for green energy like LNG (Liquid Natural Gas) on account of low environment impact, durability and long term benefits etc it derives. But the selection of a contractor to build the plant has be done in a more transparent and less problematic manner. I don’t understand as to why a second LNG plant was given to a local company without following the tender procedure,” UPFA frontliner and SLFP’S Propaganda Secretary Parliamentarian Siyambalapitya said. Addressing media at the SLFP head office, Mr. Siyambalapitiya noted that when the tenders were called for the LNG power plant at Kerawalapitiya, there were biddings from companies from China, Korea, India, Sri Lanka and Japan but only a Chinese company and a Sri Lanka company were short-listed. A subsidiary of the Lanka Transformers Ltd (LTL) with majority shares with the CEB, Lakdhanavi, has also raised questions over the legality of the ministry’s decision to award a second project to the company outside the accepted tender process after the contract for the first 300 MWS plant was given to the Chinese company rejecting Lakdhanavi’s bidding. The Cabinet in February approved a proposal by Power, Energy and Business Development Minister Ravi Karunanayake to award the tender to set up the Build Own Operate and Transfer (BOOT) 300MW LNG plant, which was tendered in 2016, to Consortium of GCL Windforce and Renewgen as per the Procurement Appeal Board (PAB) recommendations, while approving simultaneously the awarding of a second project to build a second 300MW LNG plant at the same location to LTL, at the rates quoted by the company for the first tender without calling tenders. Commenting on the preparations for the forthcoming elections scheduled this year, Mr. Siyambalapitiya said the grassroots level reorganizations and setting up of women, youth, Trade Union and village level party branches have already been completed. He added that party’s official newspaper ‘Dinakara’ out of print for several years will be issued shortly. Responding to a journalist, Mr. Siyambalapitiya said the budget 2019 was only a stack of words and no budgetary allocations have been made to the proposals made for their implementation.
I don’t understand as to why a second LNG plant was given to a local company without following the tender procedure