Power and Energy Minister Anura Karunatilaka says the coal shipment facing allegations of being substandard can still be used for electricity generation at the Norochcholai Lakvijaya Power Plant.

The Minister made the remarks in response to claims made yesterday (26) by the Free Lawyers organisation that a shipment of substandard coal had been brought into the country for the Norochcholai power plant.

However, he warned that rejecting the third coal shipment procured under the emergency procurement process could severely disrupt the country’s uninterrupted electricity supply.

Commenting on the revised quality verification process applied to the shipment, the Minister said that in addition to samples provided by the supplier, Lanka Coal Company had independently intervened to submit samples for testing to the international inspection and certification agency Bureau Veritas.

Karunatilaka said authorities were currently examining whether the Government had legal grounds to fully reject the shipment based on its higher ash content.

He cautioned, however, that rejecting the shipment could trigger a broader power crisis.

“If we reject this shipment, a problem will arise in maintaining an uninterrupted electricity supply. The electricity lost from this coal would have to be generated using other, more costly thermal power sources,” he said.

“On the other hand, we do not have sufficient time to procure a fresh coal shipment. The monsoon season begins around mid-June, and from then until September, coal unloading operations at the Norochcholai sea channel cannot be carried out.”

In a special statement issued yesterday (26), the Free Lawyers organisation claimed that the 59,766-metric-ton coal shipment aboard the vessel MV JOSCO YONGZHOU, supplied by Taranjot Resource (Pvt) Ltd from South Africa’s Richards Bay Port, was of a standard warranting outright rejection.

According to the organisation, the loading port report for the shipment recorded an ash content of 16.8%, exceeding the maximum permitted limit of 16% stipulated under the official tender conditions of Lanka Coal Company.

The organisation alleged that the shipment contained excessive ash rather than usable coal and argued that, as the poorest-quality coal shipment to arrive in Sri Lanka, it should neither be unloaded nor paid for.