The Presidential Commission of Inquiry investigating alleged irregularities in Sri Lanka’s coal imports since 2009 has carried out an on-site inspection of the Lakvijaya Power Plant at Norochcholai, the President’s Media Division said.
The delegation, led by Commission Secretary D.V. Bandulasena alongside investigating officers, observed the full coal-to-power chain at the country’s only coal-fired generating station — from coal unloading at the jetty through to electricity dispatch from the control room.
Inspectors paid particular attention to coal unloading operations, on-site storage facilities, random sampling procedures, the laboratory used to test imported coal quality, and operations at the plant’s main control room, according to the PMD.
The visit marks the first time the commission has moved its inquiry from statement-taking in Colombo to an operational walk-through at the plant whose coal supply chain sits at the centre of the probe. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake appointed the three-judge body to examine procurement and generation activities by the state-owned Lanka Coal Company (Pvt) Ltd and its successors from the start of coal-based power generation in Sri Lanka up to April 16, 2026.
The site inspection comes as the commission ramps toward its first public phase. It has already recorded statements from about 50 officials, including procurement committee members, with open hearings scheduled for the first week of July. The on-site checks — particularly of random sampling and lab testing procedures — directly engage the long-running allegations over coal calorific value and substandard shipments that the Committee on Public Enterprises has separately scrutinised.
Bandulasena’s team did not disclose findings from the inspection, which is part of the commission’s evidence-gathering before public hearings open.
