By Uditha Jayasinghe
COLOMBO, April 17 (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody and ministry secretary Udayanga Hemapala resigned on Friday following an outcry over coal imports for power generation.
Jayakody stepped down to make way for investigations to be carried out into alleged imports of low-quality coal for Sri Lanka’s only coal-fired power plant, according to a statement from the president’s media office.
The resignations were handed over to Sri Lanka President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on Friday morning.
“We are not trying to hide anything. Proper procurement guidelines and procedures were followed. There was no fraud or corruption with the direct involvement of the energy minister,” Foreign Affairs Minister Vijitha Herath told reporters following the resignation.
The investigation is expected to be wrapped up in six months and is aimed at improving transparency and bolstering public confidence, he added.
Jayakody is the first high-profile cabinet minister to resign over corruption allegations and his move comes after he faced a no-confidence motion, which was defeated in parliament last week.
Dissanayake has ordered a full-scale investigation into all coal imports for power generation dating back to 2009 and earlier acknowledged that the low-quality coal supply has impacted the power generation of the state-run Lakvijaya Power Plant.
The power plant needs about 2.25 million metric tons of coal annually to supply about 40% of Sri Lanka’s power needs, according to a special audit report released earlier this month.
Lower power generation pushed Sri Lanka to order 300,000 metric tons of emergency coal last month and utilise more diesel and furnace oil for thermal power to bridge the shortfall.
Sri Lanka, which is recovering from a severe financial crisis that peaked four years ago, imports all its fuel. Since the start of the Middle East crisis, the island nation rationed fuel and declared every Wednesday a public holiday to manage stocks.
(Reporting by Uditha Jayasinghe, writing by Tanvi Mehta; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
