Hon. Ruwan Wijeweera

## Summary Hon. Ruwan Wijeweera defended the coal procurement process for the Lakvijaya power plant against allegations of irregularities, asserting that the tender was conducted in full legal compliance with strong competitive participation — 26 registered bidders, 11 participants, and 10 submitted bids meeting all pre-qualification criteria. He argued that the 28-day bidding period was approved by the National Procurement Commission, no appeals were lodged during the 14-day appeal window, and all evaluation committees followed due process in accordance with Auditor-General recommendations, including revised experience thresholds introduced in 2023. Regarding a quality dispute, he confirmed that a USD 2.1 million penalty was imposed on the first shipment after an accredited laboratory in India found it below the minimum 5,900 kcal/kg GCV threshold, noting that the Lakvijaya facility itself is not an accredited testing laboratory. He concluded by referencing Sri Lanka's improved Corruption Perceptions Index ranking (from 121 to 107) and international recognition of the Government's anti-corruption efforts, including a statement from IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, to counter broader allegations of misconduct.

The speech contains insufficient content to summarize meaningfully. The member, Hon. Ruwan Wijeweera, only indicated their intention to pose a question, with no further substantive content recorded in the transcript.