The Board of Investment has certified the registration of its agreement with Sahasdhanavi Limited for a 350 MW combined cycle power plant at the Kerawalapitiya Industrial Zone, Hiru News reported.
The agreement was registered on 13 August 2026 under Section 17(2) of the Board of Investment Law No. 4 of 1978. The certification announced this week is the formal confirmation of that registration rather than a fresh approval.
What the money is
The project carries a total envisaged investment of US$291.19 million, split into US$90 million in share capital, US$196.19 million in loan capital and US$5 million from other sources. Sahasdhanavi says it expects to create 1,147 jobs, alongside wider demand in construction, engineering, procurement, manufacturing and logistics.
Built to be handed over
The plant is being developed on a Build-Own-Operate-Transfer basis and will supply the national grid directly. It comes in two phases:
- Phase I — a 243 MW gas turbine running on LNG, or 213 MW on diesel.
- Phase II — a 107 MW steam turbine on LNG, or 105 MW on diesel.
Completion is scheduled within 42 months of the agreement date, which points to early 2030.
The plant will start on diesel and switch to regasified liquefied natural gas once the national import and supply infrastructure is in place — a sequencing that ties the project’s eventual fuel economics to LNG terminal capacity that does not yet exist.
Three plants, one hub
The figure that gives the announcement its weight is the cumulative one. Sahasdhanavi joins the 350 MW Sobadhanavi and 300 MW Yugadhanavi combined cycle plants already at Kerawalapitiya, taking the area’s generation capacity to roughly 1,000 MW — a single coastal site carrying a substantial share of national supply.
The three names are easily confused and refer to separate plants. Sobadhanavi is already connected to the grid; Sahasdhanavi is the one now clearing its investment milestones.
Kerawalapitiya’s role as a generation hub has been reinforced elsewhere in the network. In August the AIIB backed a transmission cable linking the site to the Port of Colombo.
Update, September 9: Daily Mirror confirms the figures
The Daily Mirror has filed its own report on the registration, independently confirming every material figure: the 13 August 2026 registration date under Section 17(2) of the BOI Law, the US$291.19 million envisaged investment and its US$90 million / US$196.19 million / US$5 million split, the 350 MW combined cycle capacity, the BOOT structure, the 1,147 jobs, the two-phase turbine configuration, the 42-month completion schedule, and the diesel-to-RLNG switch.
It adds that the investment covers fixed assets and working capital. No figure in the original account is revised.
