The Attorney General has apprised the Supreme Court that the Ministry of Power and Energy will not construct a proposed coal power plant in Sampur.

This was informed when a Fundamental Rights application filed by Environmental Foundation (Guarantee) Limited was taken up for hearing this morning.

The Environmental Foundation (Guarantee) Limited (EFL), filed the Fundamental Rights application in the Supreme Court objecting to the use of coal as a source of energy generation and in particular, the proposed Sampur Coal Power Plant, on May 31. 

The respondents for the case include, among others, the Ceylon Electricity Board, Central Environmental Authority, Ministry of Power and Renewable Energy. 

The grievances highlighted in the petition include the discrepancies in the EIA as well as the long term environmental and health impacts that a coal power plant will invariably cause. Further to this, the petition also notes that this move is contrary to the long term power generation plan of the GoSL.

“On February 2nd 2016, the Environmental Impact Assessment Report for this project was granted approval by the Central Environmental Authority. This is despite the fact that the Supreme Court revoked the Gazette of 17th May 2012, which declared a Special Zone for Heavy Industries in Sampur in (S.C. F.R. No. 309/2012) and that the project site had drastically changed as internally displaced people had begun to be resettled in their original lands in Sampur,” EFL said in a statement.

The ill-fated joint venture between the CEB and the National Thermal Power Corporation of India (NTPC) has been on the drawing board since 2006 and has faced many challenges in the past ten years.