General

The Sectoral Oversight Committee (SOC) on Infrastructure and Strategic Development has examined issues related to coal imported into Sri Lanka, focusing on quality control and import methods. A recent meeting of the Committee took place in Parliament, led by Member of Parliament S. M. Marikkar. Representatives from the Ministry of Power and Energy and Lanka Coal Company (Private) Limited were called to attend the session. During the meeting, the Committee asked officials about the import procedures for coal. They specifically looked into the methods used for the latest coal shipments and questioned officials about these details. The Chairman of the Committee wanted to know if there were any concerns about the quality of the recently imported coal. Officials replied that samples from three vessels of coal that reached Sri Lanka had been sent to India for testing in a laboratory. They indicated that complete information would be available once the quality reports were received. The discussion continued for some time, after which the Chairman announced that the previous Chairman of Lanka Coal Company (Private) Limited, who was involved in the imports, would be invited to the next Committee meeting. In addition, officials were instructed to provide the quality assessment reports for the coal from the three imported vessels on the same day as the next meeting, along with any laboratory test results conducted in Sri Lanka on the coal from the most recent shipment.