The allegations involve a 500-megawatt renewable energy project Sri Lanka’s Mannar district.
New Delhi:
In a huge political controversy in Sri Lanka over an energy project contract, an allegation that Prime Minister Narendra Modi pressured President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to award the project to Gautam Adani’s group has been retracted by the senior official who made the claim and has also been strongly denied by President Rajapaksa.
The government has not commented on the now-retracted allegation by the chief of Sri Lanka’s electricity authority.
The allegations involve a 500-megawatt renewable energy project Sri Lanka’s Mannar district. On Friday, MMC Ferdinando, the Chairman of Sri Lanka’s Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), told a parliamentary panel that President Rajapaksa had told him that PM Modi had pressured him to give the wind power project directly to the Adani Group.
A video posted on Twitter appeared to show Mr Ferdinando making the claim at an open hearing of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE). According to newspaper reports, Mr Ferdinando told the panel that Mr Rajapaksa “told me that he was under pressure from Modi”.
A day later, President Rajapaksa put out a denial on Twitter. On Sunday, the official also did a 180 degree, claiming he had been “overcome with emotion” because of questions suggesting wrongdoing by him.
President Rajapaksa had tweeted: “Regarding a statement made by the #lka CEB Chairman at a COPE committee hearing regarding the award of a Wind Power Project in Mannar, I categorically deny authorisation to award this project to any specific person or entity. I trust responsible communication in this regard will follow.”
His office also issued a longer statement “vehemently denying” influencing anybody on the project. The President had “categorically stated that he had not at any time given authorisation to award a wind power project in Mannar to any person or any institution,” the statement said.
“Sri Lanka is currently in an acute shortage of power and President desires to expedite implementation of mega power projects as early as possible. However, no undue influence will be used in awarding such projects. Project proposals for large-scale renewable energy projects is limited, but special attention will be paid to the selection of institutions for the projects, which will be carried out strictly in accordance with the transparent and accountable system by the government of Sri Lanka,” said President Rajapaksa’s office.
A day later, Mr Ferdinando was quoted by Sri Lankan daily The Morning as apologizing and saying that due to “unexpected pressures and emotions”, he was compelled to name the Indian Prime Minister.
The controversy erupted a day after Sri Lanka changed its laws and dropped competitive bidding for energy projects. Opposition parties accused the government of making the change to facilitate the Mannar energy project contract awarded to the Adani group.
Gautam Adani visited Sri Lanka in October and he had tweeted about his meeting with President Rajapaksa, adding that he was looking at “other infrastructure partnerships” besides the port project.
The Adani Group reportedly won contracts to develop two wind power projects, in Mannar and in Pooneryn, in December.
In 2021, the Adani Group had also signed a $700 million deal with the state-run Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) to develop and run the strategic Colombo Port’s West International Container Terminal.