adani Project in Sri Lanka: What is Adani's project in sri lanka, which has created a ruckus? Even the President had to issue a clarification

Questions are constantly being raised on social media what are the projects in which there is controversy about Adani's involvement? When did adani get these projects and after all why has suddenly this controversy arisen again?

The name of gautam adani, one of the biggest industrialists of india, is once again in the news. This time not for being included in any list of rich or earning records, but because of a project abroad. In fact, the chairman of Sri Lanka's Ceylon electricity Board (CEB), during his appearance before the parliamentary committee, alleged that prime minister of india Narendra Modi had pressurized the Rajapaksa government to get this project to Adani.

Shockingly, CEB chairman MMC Ferdinando withdrew his statement a day later and declared that he had leveled "false" allegations against the Modi government after being blown away by emotion. After his clarification, the dispute was likely to end. But instead of reducing this whole controversy, it has increased.

Questions are constantly being raised on social media what are the projects in which there is controversy about Adani's involvement? When did adani get these projects? Apart from this, what did the then CEB chairman say about the proposal for these projects? And after all, why all of a sudden this controversy has arisen again?

In december last year, it was reported that India's adani Group has shown interest in developing a wind power project in Sri Lanka's Mannar. In addition, adani also secured a wind power project at Poonirayan in Jaffna, Eastern Province. adani had submitted proposals to the Investment Board and electricity Board of sri lanka for both these projects. Both the projects were planned to generate 1 GW of electricity and their value was then assumed to be $1 billion i.e. Rs 77 billion at today's price.

In march this year, an MoU was signed between Ceylon electricity Board and adani Greens regarding this green project. However, it was said in this MoU that adani will get the wind power generation up to a capacity of 500 MW only at the cost of $ 500 million at present under these projects.

The funny thing is that in sri lanka not only adani Group from india is working on the power project, but also a 100 MW solar power project in Sampur, Trincomalee, sometime back between the Ceylon electricity Board and the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC). An agreement has been reached on starting the park.

During his appearance before a parliamentary committee on june 10, CEB Chairman Ferdinando had alleged that Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had called him to the office on november 24 last year and asked him to hand over renewable energy projects to the adani Group. Ferdinando said that he had told the President directly that the issue was not related to his department, as it was between the two governments.

The CEB chairman had claimed that Gotabaya had told him in the midst of this secret discussion that the prime minister of india was pressurizing him to hand over the project to the adani Group.

However, a day after his statement, Ferdinando said that he had made these allegations because of the pressure being created unnecessarily.

The CEB chairman said that his statement was completely wrong. He is taking it back and apologizing unconditionally for his statement.

According to a report in The sunday Morning, Ceylon electricity Board (CEB) chairman Ferdinando also made a statement when adani Group was negotiating to acquire these projects. He had said that Adani's proposal has also got the approval of the cabinet committee.

However, he refused to know about the other approvals received for the project since its inception. Ferdinando had said that CEB is only a buyer of energy and we have no idea about the rest of the project details.

Adani's projects in sri lanka and the controversy surrounding PM Modi's name are not new. Earlier in march 2022, when the MoU was signed between the two sides, Sri Lanka's main opposition party - Samagi Jana Balvegaya (SJP or United People's Force) had said that indian traders were trying to enter sri lanka through the back door. Huh. They are being awarded projects without participating in the bidding process, which is a violation of the law.

The sjp had made it clear that Gotabaya Rajapakse was busy helping Modi's friend.

The latest controversy regarding these two energy projects has arisen only last week. In fact, the Sri Lankan government had proposed amendments to the changed electricity law in 2013. The purpose of this amendment is to do away with the auction process for projects related to the energy sector.

Opposing this amendment, the opposition said that this change in the electricity law has been done only to give legal validity to Adani's projects. However, this amendment was passed with a majority in the Sri Lankan Parliament. The Wickremesinghe government has clearly stated that this amendment was necessary to meet Sri Lanka's energy needs and prevent delays.