Cabinet holds back Kerawalapitiya LNG tender awarding

• Decides to seed National Procurement Commission’s recommendations

The Cabinet of Ministers yesterday decided to hold back the awarding of the controversial 300MW Kerawalapitiya Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) power plant tender to the second lowest bidder, GCL Windforce & RenewGen and to seek National Procurement Commission’s recommendation,  following public pressure, according to government sources. 

Power and Renewable Energy Minister Ranjith Siyambalapiya as expected was said to have presented the proposal seeking Cabinet approval to award the tender to GCL Windforce & RenewGen at yesterday’s Cabinet meeting. 

However, several Cabinet ministers reportedly raised concerns on awarding the particular tender to GCL Windforce & RenewGen bypassing the lowest bidder, Lakdanavi Ltd, a subsidiary of LTL Holdings. 

Consequently, the Cabinet made a decision to seek National Procurement Commission (NPC) recommendation prior to arriving at a final decision. The NPC was given a period of one week to study the matter and submit its recommendations.

Industry experts had earlier pointed out that Ceylon Electricity Board could incur a potential loss of Rs.42.5 billion over a 20-year period by awarding the contract to the second lowest bidder. 

Proposals for the 300MW Kerawalapitiya LNG plant was called in November 2016, and following several controversies, the Standard Cabinet Appointed Procurement Committee (SCAPC) finally decided to award the contract to Lakdanavi last month.

However, the Procurement Appeal Board (PAB) decided to reverse the decision of SCAPC to award the contract Lakdanavi Ltd. after considering an appeal filed by GCL Windforce & RenewGen. (NF)