Sri Lanka President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Adani Group, wind power
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In the course of his election campaign, Dissanayake pledged to cancel the deal and call for international tenders to develop wind power in Sri Lanka. | File photo 

Sri Lanka revokes Adani Group's controversial $440 million wind power project

The project was challenged on multiple grounds, including the arbitrary and excessive price of US cents 8.26 per kilowatt hour at a time when local bidders were offering prices as low as 4.88 cents


Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has revoked a decision made by his predecessor Ranil Wickremesinghe in June last year to award a controversial 484 MW of wind power plants in Mannar and Pooneryn to Adani Green Energy SL Ltd, said reports in Lankan media on Friday (January 24).

As per Daily FT, the decision was reached in a cabinet meeting chaired by Dissanayake. The project was challenged on multiple grounds, including the arbitrary and excessive price of US cents 8.26 per kilowatt hour at a time when local bidders were offering prices as low as 4.88 cents.

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Many environmental outfits, including the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society and Environmental Foundation Ltd, opposed the project on account of deficiencies in the Environmental Impact Assessment and also because Mannar is a critical habitat for migratory birds, said the report. The local community, represented by the Bishop of Mannar too, strongly opposed the project because of the harm to local industries and livelihoods.

In the course of his election campaign, Dissanayake pledged to cancel the deal and call for international tenders to develop wind power in Sri Lanka. Having won the presidency in a fiercely contested three-way race, he vowed to safeguard Sri Lanka’s energy sovereignty, labeling the Adani deal a potential threat.

The Adani Group had committed to investing over $440 million in the development of 484 megawatts of wind power across the northeastern regions of Mannar and Pooneryn under a 20-year agreement.

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