Hon. (Dr.) Nishantha Samaraweera

Hon. Dr. Samaraweera spoke in opposition to the motion, characterising it as baseless and a misuse of parliamentary time, noting that the Opposition mustered only 14 of approximately 40 MPs for a related morning protest. He challenged a specific factual claim in the motion, arguing that the cited figure of 12.32 million metric tons for Lakvijaya (Norochcholai) power plant represents a ten-year quantity rather than a seasonal requirement, with the actual tender requirement being approximately 1.5 million tons. He defended the current government's coal procurement process as the first to fully comply with Auditor-General and COPF recommendations, contrasting it with alleged procedural irregularities under the previous administration between 2010 and 2022, including invalid tenders and Cabinet-directed contract awards that he claimed caused losses of approximately Rs. 16,000 million. He also noted that Norochcholai's Unit 1 reaches its design life around 2041, contextualising historical breakdowns and cautioning against what he described as pre-emptive blame shifting by the Opposition.

Hon. (Dr.) Nishantha Samaraweera briefly addressed the House on 19 February 2026, indicating the conclusion of his remarks and noting that the complete findings and recommendations are contained within the Report under consideration. No further substantive arguments or proposals were made in this closing statement.

## Summary Hon. (Dr.) Nishantha Samaraweera presented the 17th Report of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) for the First Session of the Tenth Parliament, tabled in Sinhala only with English and Tamil versions to follow. The Report examines non-performing loans held by the National Savings Bank (NSB), established under the National Savings Bank Act No. 30 of 1971, focusing on loan balances exceeding Rs. 5 million as of 30 September 2025, of which Rs. 7,972 million out of Rs. 96,046 million total had been classified as non-performing. Key cases examined include a 2018 syndicated foreign currency loan to a Maldives-registered company (RPI Pvt. Ltd.) where no principal repayments have been received and the funded project has recorded zero physical progress, loans to Technopark Development Company of Rs. 750 million, and loans to Bimputh Finance PLC totalling Rs. 300 million where NSB failed to adequately protect its interests during liquidation proceedings, leaving over Rs. 258 million outstanding. The Report identifies systemic lapses in NSB's lending controls and recovery processes, and calls on relevant authorities to pursue urgent remedial action and strengthen oversight mechanisms.