A particular audit report on coal procurement for the 2025/2026 season has revealed that, as on the date on which commercials had been printed calling for bids by the Lanka Coal Firm for the acquisition of coal for the Lakvijaya Energy Plant, the Trident Firm, which was in the end awarded the tender, had not but accomplished its registration.
The Auditor Common has additional disclosed on this particular audit report that, in supplying coal to Sri Lanka, the laboratory whose stories had been obtained on the port of loading by the controversial Trident Firm had had its licence revoked.
The Auditor Common issued this report following a latest communication made by the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) to the Nationwide Audit Workplace.
COPE had requested a report from the Auditor Common relating to each the procurement course of and the failure of the coal bought for the Norochcholai Lakvijaya Energy Plant for the 2025/2026 season to fulfill the anticipated requirements.
Accordingly, the Nationwide Audit Workplace has now launched a particular audit report on the coal procurement course of carried out by the Lanka Coal Firm for the Lakvijaya Energy Plant, in addition to on coal procurement for the 2025/2026 season.
The report states that the procurement discover had clearly specified that bids can be referred to as solely from suppliers who had accomplished their registration by the date of publication of the commercial.
Nonetheless, bids had additionally been invited from three suppliers who had not confirmed their registration by paying the total registration price by that date, and the Trident Firm chosen for this procurement had likewise not confirmed its registration at the moment, the Auditor Common has noticed.
The coal bought is subjected to testing by an unbiased inspector at each the port of loading and the port of discharge to confirm whether or not it meets the requirements required for the Lakvijaya Energy Plant. Nonetheless, because the seller-appointed Mitra SK South Africa didn’t possess accreditation to check coal samples in opposition to the required requirements, the testing was assigned to an Indonesian firm, PT Mitra SK Analisa Testama Samarinda, whose licence had been cancelled by 29 December 2025, to challenge the related stories.
Moreover, the audit didn’t discover proof that the licence of the mentioned firm had been renewed as at 31 March 2026.
Nonetheless, the audit report signifies that the port-of-loading stories regarding all 12 shipments acquired had been issued by Mitra SK South Africa, which lacked correct accreditation.
The report additional notes that, regardless of discrepancies between the port-of-loading check stories and the info obtained from the primary management unit of the Lakvijaya Energy Plant, and regardless of the supply of a number of various choices for verification, the Lanka Coal Firm had didn’t utilise any of these choices to verify the accuracy of the loading port stories.
It’s also identified that, though coal can’t be unloaded in Sri Lanka all year long and due to this fact imports should be maximised through the accessible window, the Lanka Coal Firm had failed to hold out procurement in a way that will enable any shipments to be acquired through the 40-day interval from 13 November to 30 December 2025.
Subsequently, because of the arrival of fewer vessels than required, coal needed to be procured by an emergency procurement on 18 March this 12 months. The Auditor Common has revealed that the chosen firm, Taranjot Assets (Personal) Restricted, had, throughout the 36 months previous to acquiring its registration, failed to produce coal assembly or exceeding the rejected threshold gross calorific worth of 5,900 kilocalories required by the Lakvijaya Energy Plant.
In gentle of those circumstances, the Auditor Common has additional warned within the report that the lack to make sure the well timed arrival of coal shipments, coupled with potential uncontrollable future situations, might adversely have an effect on the continual provide of electrical energy if ample coal isn’t secured to fulfill the necessities of the Lakvijaya Energy Plant.
