COLOMBO: The Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) on Monday 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.
Asked during a political chat show if the project posed a threat to the island nation's energy sector sovereignty, JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the presidential candidate from the broader front National People's Power (NPP), replied in affirmative. “We will definitely cancel it as it threatens our energy sovereignty."
The JVP, which led a bloody anti-India rebellion between 1987 and 1990 following India's direct intervention in the civil war through the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord, is believed to be leading in the unofficial polls ahead of the September 21 election.
The Adani Group was set to invest over USD 440 million in the 20-year agreement for the development of 484 megawatts of wind power in the northeastern regions of Mannar and Pooneryn.
But it has faced fundamental rights litigation in the Lankan Supreme Court after it got approval for the proposed construction, with the petitioners raising environmental concerns and lack of transparency in the bidding process to grant Adani Green Energy the go-ahead.
The petitioners also argued that the agreed tariff of USD 0.0826 per kWh would be a loss to Sri Lanka and should be lowered to USD 0.005 per kWh.