Hon. Kumara Jayakody

Minister of Energy Kumara Jayakody addressed questions about the Trincomalee oil storage tanks and the Norochcholai power plant. He stated that refurbishment of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation's 24 tanks is underway — with two completed and two in progress — and that the pipeline system is also being fully repaired, asserting that storage operations will only commence once this work is finished. He attributed the reduction in the number of tanks to the previous government's sale of the remaining tanks to India, and indicated that any environmental concerns at Norochcholai would be addressed by the relevant authorities in due course.

Minister of Energy Kumara Jayakody assured Parliament that coal-based power generation is proceeding without reduction and that petroleum supplies face no delays, with all Ceylon Petroleum Corporation storage tanks filled to capacity. He announced that nine new storage tanks are under construction, with foundations already laid under the current government. The Minister acknowledged that global conflicts are beyond the government's control but pledged to safeguard the country's energy security, while implicitly criticising predecessors for failing to plan adequately.

Minister of Energy Kumara Jayakody responded to a parliamentary question regarding generators at the Norochcholai (Lakvijaya) Power Plant. He clarified that no generators were purchased for this purpose; however, two generator sets donated by the Chinese Government in 2015 — originally received by the Ministry of Disaster Management and subsequently transferred to the plant — are available. The Minister noted that the plant's cooling system normally draws auxiliary power from its own generating units or the national grid, and that engineers, together with the plant's construction company and design entity, are currently conducting tests to assess the feasibility of using the donated generators to power the cooling system during a total grid blackout, with necessary modifications to follow.

Hon. Kumara Jayakody clarified the timeline of a publication or notification process, stating that 21 days were provided during the first round, and that the upload on the 12th pertained to a second stage. He confirmed that the relevant information was made available through both the official website and newspapers within the initial 21-day period.

Hon. Kumara Jayakody moved a procedural motion for Hon. Chanaka Madugoda to assume the Chair. The motion was put, agreed to, and carried out, with Hon. Sanjeewa Ranasingha vacating the Chair and Hon. Chanaka Madugoda taking over as Presiding Member.

The speech provided contains insufficient content to summarize meaningfully. The sole statement made by Hon. Kumara Jayakody — "That is not in the report" — appears to be a brief interjection or point of order, likely disputing the accuracy or inclusion of a particular matter in a referenced report, but without further context the full intent cannot be determined.

The speech provided contains only the question "What is the date of that report?" without sufficient context to produce a meaningful summary. The speaker, Hon. Kumara Jayakody, posed a brief procedural question regarding the date of an unspecified report, likely in response to or as part of a broader parliamentary exchange. No further detail, legislative context, or substantive argument is discernible from the text provided.

Hon. Kumara Jayakody concluded his remarks by defending the government's procurement practices, asserting that no processes or supplier arrangements have been altered unlawfully. He stated that contract defaults would only be actioned when they occur, and affirmed that all actions taken are in accordance with the law.

The provided text contains insufficient content to summarize as a parliamentary speech. The excerpt appears to be only a procedural interjection in which Hon. Kumara Jayakody requests that another member be allowed to speak after his own speech concludes, rather than a substantive speech with policy arguments or proposals.

## Summary Hon. Kumara Jayakody responded to an adjournment motion alleging delays and falsehoods in coal procurement and supply for the Norochcholai power plant, defending the current administration's handling of the 2024/2025 supply contract. He argued that delivery delays were attributable to physical constraints at the Norochcholai site — specifically its offshore jetty allowing only single-vessel discharge — and to stockpile space occupied by coal from a previous procurement until December, after which the new supply chain commenced and is now operating continuously with ships nine through thirteen in various stages of delivery. On allegations of coal quality damage, he cited technical monitoring data showing all key emissions indicators (PM2.5, PM10, CO, NO₂, and SO₂) remain within national standards, no boiler tube failures have been reported since the current shipments, and the plant's three units are operating at 265 MW within OEM-recommended safe ranges. He further challenged opposition credibility on quality enforcement, noting that previous administrations failed to recover penalty payments for substandard coal, including leaving over USD 8 million unrecovered in some years.