Top official says Modi ‘pressured’ Gotabaya Rajapaksa, later withdraws remarks; President ‘vehemently denies’ statement

 A Sri Lankan authentic decided to resign after triggering a huge controversy with his declare that an energy project in the u . s . was awarded to Indian industrialist Gautam Adani's group after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had forced the Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Top official says Modi ‘pressured’ Gotabaya Rajapaksa, later withdraws remarks; President ‘vehemently denies’ statement

An Adani project in Sri Lanka is but again at the centre of controversy, after a top respectable of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) told a parliamentary panel that a renewable energy task in the island’s northern Mannar district was given to the Adani Group after Prime Minister Narendra Modi “pressured” President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

CEB Chairman M.M.C. Ferdinando made the remark on Friday earlier than the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE), but soon withdrew it, pronouncing he had been “emotional”. Between his statement on Friday and swift withdrawal was a tweet from Mr. Gotabaya on Saturday that said: “Re[garding] a announcement made by the #lka CEB Chairman at a COPE committee hearing concerning the award of a Wind Power Project in Mannar, I categorically deny authorisation to award this project to any specific individual or entity. I trust responsible verbal exchange in this regard will follow.”

The President’s office followed up with a announcement “vehemently denying” the CEB official’s remarks. “Sri Lanka is currently in an acute shortage of strength and President desires to expedite implementation of mega power initiatives as early as possible. However, no undue influence will be used in awarding such projects. Project proposals for large-scale renewable energy initiatives is limited, but special interest will be paid to the selection of institutions for the projects, which will be carried out strictly in accordance with the obvious and accountable system through the government of Sri Lanka.”

The development comes days after Sri Lanka amended its electrical energy law, effectively eliminating aggressive bidding for energy projects. The move drew flak from the Opposition and authorities critics.  In the parliamentary debate on the Bill, subsequently passed, Opposition lawmaker Nalin Bandara flagged concerns that aggressive bidding was being done away with “to make way” for tasks like the Adani Group’s,  according to the Colombo-based Sunday Times.

This is not the first time that Sri Lankans have wondered the Adani Group’s entry into the island’s energy sector, or brought up Mr. Modi’s title in this regard. Following an agreement between the Group and the CEB in March 2022, to execute renewable energy tasks in the northern Mannar and Pooneryn districts, Sri Lanka’s main opposition party Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB or United People’s Force) stated the Indian businessman was making a “backdoor entry”, and accused Mr. Gotabaya of “pampering” Mr. Modi’s “notorious friends”.

The energy mission is the second major task in Sri Lanka involving the Adani Group, after it bagged a strategic port terminal deal in Colombo. The Group was brought in to execute the West Container Terminal assignment at the Colombo Port, with majority stakes, after Colombo unilaterally cancelled a trilateral agreement among the governments of Sri Lanka and India and Japan to at the same time build the East Container Terminal at the same port.  The Adani Group, Sri Lankan Ministers have said, used to be the Indian government’s “nominee” in both cases, indicating there was no aggressive bidding process.  Similarly, there is no information of a tendering process having preceded the electricity agreement signed by the Group and the CEB. Even the settlement was not formally publicised by either side, and got here to light only after Sri Lankan media stated on the development.

India and Sri Lanka, in all recent high-level meetings — consisting of former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa’s meeting with Mr. Modi in March — discussed bilateral cooperation in sustainable energy.  India’s National Thermal Power Corporation too signed an settlement with the CEB in March, to jointly set up a solar strength plant in Sampur, in Sri Lanka’s eastern Trincomalee district.

Further, India is also executing hybrid electricity projects in three islands off Jaffna Peninsula, after displacing a Chinese energy project. Although China had gained the contract for the project through an Asian Development Bank-backed global competitive bid, Sri Lanka opted for the Indian grant project, following New Delhi’s “concerns” with a Chinese venture close to India’s southern coast.