The Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) had requested a report from the Auditor General regarding the procurement of coal for the Norochcholai Lakvijaya Power Plant for the 2025/2026 season, as well as concerns about the quality of the coal purchased. Accordingly, the Auditor General has submitted this report to COPE in Parliament.
The special audit report reveals that when the controversial Trident company supplied coal to Sri Lanka, the laboratory that provided reports at the loading port had its license revoked. It also confirms that by the date the tender notice was published, the Trident company—which received the contract—had not even completed its registration.
Although the tender notice clearly stated that bids would only be accepted from fully registered suppliers by that date, the report says this rule was not followed. Three suppliers who had not completed registration or paid the required fees were allowed to submit bids. The selected Trident company was also not properly registered at that time, according to the Auditor General.
To ensure the coal met required standards, samples are tested at both the loading and unloading ports by independent inspectors. However, at the loading port, the company appointed by the seller, Mitra SK South Africa, did not have proper accreditation to test the coal samples. Therefore, the testing was assigned to an Indonesian company, PT Mitra SK Analisa Testama Samarinda.
The report states that this Indonesian company’s license had already been cancelled by December 29, 2025, and had still not been renewed by March 31, 2026.
Despite this, reports for all 12 shipments were issued through Mitra SK South Africa, which was identified as lacking proper accreditation.
The report further points out that there were differences between the loading port test reports and the data from the main control unit of the Lakvijaya Power Plant. Even though the Lanka Coal Company had several alternative ways to verify these reports, it failed to use any of them.
In addition, since coal cannot be unloaded in Sri Lanka throughout the whole year, imports should have been maximized during the available period. However, during the 40-day period from November 13 to December 30, 2025, the Lanka Coal Company failed to arrange any coal shipments.
Due to the shortage of shipments, an emergency procurement was carried out on March 18 this year. The selected company, Taranjot Resource (Pvt) Ltd, was also found to have failed—within the 36 months before its registration—to supply coal with the required gross calorific value of 5,900 kilocalories or more.
Considering all these facts, the Auditor General warns that delays in coal shipments and possible uncontrollable future situations could lead to a shortage of coal for the Lakvijaya Power Plant. This may negatively affect the continuous supply of electricity.