India not notified of Sampur coal power plant cancelation: Indian High Commission

The Indian High Commission said today it had not been notified of the Sri Lankan Government's decision to call off the Sampur coal power project.

"As of today, we have not yet received any updates on the Sampur issue from GOSL," said Esha Srivastava, spokesperson.

The Attorney General today informed the Supreme Court that the Ministry of Power and Energy would not construct the proposed coal power plant.

This was revealed when a Fundamental Rights application filed by Environmental Foundation (Guarantee) Limited was taken up this morning. EFL had filed the application on May 31 objecting to the use of coal as a source of energy generation and, in particular, the proposed Sampur plant.

As recently as April, Power and Energy Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said at a press conference that the Government would go ahead with all three phases of the coal power plant within this year. “We have received the Environmental Impact Assessment report for the first phase of the 500MW,” he said. “We can go ahead".

In February, a statement issued at the end of the 9^th session of the India-Sri Lanka Joint Commission said the two sides deliberated on ways to further collaboration in various projects that have been under discussion, including the Sampur power plant.

But India and Sri Lanka have been locked in a controversial tug-of-war over the coal-fired joint venture power generation project at Sampur near Trincomalee since December 2006.

In May 2016, it was reported that Sri Lanka had sought to replace the proposed coal plant with an LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) one in talks between President Maithripala Sirisena and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. India did not formally comment.

It is not known whether the Government will now build this or another coal power plant elsewhere.

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