By Namini Wijedasa

The price bids of four companies competing to sell 300,000MT of emergency coal for the Lakvijaya power plant were examined this week, but the tender went unawarded, official sources said.

Meanwhile, problematic coal supplier Trident Chemphar—which won the ongoing 2025-26 term tender—has again submitted an updated schedule to Lanka Coal Company (Pvt) Ltd (LCC). The company has undertaken to send the required shipments according to the new timeline, despite not having provided a single consignment on time, as revealed by the buyer.

With Trident Chemphar’s contract still active, the emergency tender cannot be awarded, as there is no provision or space for shipments from two suppliers to arrive simultaneously. The matter will be taken to the Cabinet tomorrow for a decision, the sources said.

Trident is contract-bound to provide 25 shipments of coal by May 5, 2026. The original deadline for the last shipment was April 23. The 12th shipment of coal is being unloaded at present. There is no guarantee that Trident will deliver, the sources admitted, saying LCC is working in close consultation with the Attorney General’s Department to ensure action is taken in keeping with the commercial agreement.

Separately, samples from Trident’s 13th and 14th shipments are being collected under LCC and Sri Lanka High Commission supervision at the load port Richards Bay Coal Terminal, to be tested by a third independent lab hired by LCC called Bureau Veritas. This is after the consignments supplied by Trident consistently failed to produce the required energy from the Lakvijaya coal power plant.

According to the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) generation report for Friday, the plant’s unit 1 provided 219MW (which is 51MW short of the required 300MW); unit 2 provided 231MW (39MW short); and unit 3 provided 230MW (40MW short). That is a total shortfall of 130MW.

It is learnt that despite Trident causing continuous issues in coal quality and supply, the company again came forward as a bidder in the emergency tender. The prices per MT at opening were Trident Chempar US$121.40, Taranjot US$142.00, Aditya Birla US$146.95, and A2A Trading US$174.30. However, Trident later wrote to LCC saying it had miscalculated and offering a new price of US$ 141.00. The company was disqualified.

It is not clear why Trident sent a letter after bid opening, as it is known to be a violation of the procurement process.

“The dilemma now is that we have an ongoing tender with Trident whose current price is US$112 while the price of the lowest responsive bidder in the emergency tender is around US$30 more per metric tonne,” the sources said. “The decision is to put it to the Cabinet for the government to decide.”

Sri Lanka has also examined the possibility of buying five shipments of coal from Russia on a government-to-government basis. This was brought up during this week’s discussion between Foreign Minister Vjitha Herath and Russian Ambassador tLevan S. Dzhagaryan. However, this has not yet been put down on paper.

Courtesy:Sunday Times