Anura Kumara to ‘definitely cancel’ Adani Group’s energy project if elected
September 16, 2024 06:23 pm
The National People’s Power (NPP) on Monday (16) vowed to cancel the Adani Group’s wind power project in Sri Lanka if it gets elected in the presidential election scheduled for the weekend, according to a news report on PTI.
The NPP’s presidential candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who spoke during an Indian political chat show revealed that they would annul the project, the Indian news agency highlighted.
Asked if the project posed a threat to the island nation’s energy sector sovereignty, Dissanayake said: “Yes. We will definitely cancel it as it threatens our energy sovereignty.”
The Adani Group has faced fundamental rights litigation in Sri Lanka’s supreme court after it got approval for the proposed construction of a wind power project in the island nation’s north-eastern regions of Mannar and Pooneryn.
The conglomerate was set to invest over $440 million in the 20-year agreement for the development of 484 megawatts of wind power in the region.
Petitioners have raised environmental concerns and lack of transparency in the bidding process to grant Adani Green Energy the go-ahead.
Petitioners have also argued that the agreed tariff of $0.0826 per kilo Watt hour (kWh) would be a loss to Sri Lanka and should be lowered to $0.005 per kWh.
--With agencies inputs