The Auditor General’s report on coal imports for Lakvijaya Power Plant, presented to Parliament on April 7 at the request of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE), documents a string of procurement failures at Lanka Coal Company days before the no-confidence motion against Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody is debated.
The report finds that Trident Company — the supplier later linked to substandard coal deliveries — had not completed registration when tender advertisements were published, yet was awarded the contract regardless. Three additional unregistered bidders were also permitted to submit, in breach of standard procurement procedure.
Quality testing arrangements collapsed alongside the supplier vetting. The Indonesian laboratory contracted to certify shipments at the loading port, PT Mitra SK Analisa Testama Samarinda, had its licence cancelled on December 29, 2025. All twelve loading-port quality reports issued for the affected shipments lacked valid accreditation, the Auditor General said, and discrepancies were found between those reports and data recorded by the plant’s control unit on arrival.
Coal shipments stopped entirely between November 13 and December 30, 2025, despite urgent procurement needs. The emergency tender awarded on March 18 went to Taranjot Resource Pvt Ltd, a supplier that had previously failed to meet the 5,900 kcal minimum calorific value standard set for the plant.
The Auditor General warned that “failure to import coal on time and reliance on suppliers with questionable standards” could disrupt electricity supply continuity at the Norochcholai facility, which generates roughly 40 per cent of the national grid.
The findings directly underpin the no-confidence motion against the Energy Minister scheduled for parliamentary debate on April 10, and corroborate opposition claims of suppressed reporting and political interference in coal procurement.
