Was it by accepting bribes that the Mahaweli, the Environmental and the Sustainable Energy Authorities fell victim to the forestry racket of the Hambantota Solar Power Companies?

Was it by accepting bribes that the Mahaweli, the Environmental and the Sustainable Energy Authorities fell victim to the forestry racket of the Hambantota Solar Power Companies?

Sajeewa Chamikara

Movement for Land and Agricultural Reform 

Misleading the Sustainable Energy Authority, the Mahaweli Authority and the Central Environmental Authority, seventeen (17) companies have started constructing large-scale solar power plants by illegally clearing about 1,000 acres of forests in Seenukkugala, Orukengala and Kapapuwewa areas in the Hambantota Divisional Secretary's Division, which are the main elephant habitats located on the border of the Hambantota Elephant Management Reserve. The clear evidence which establishes this fact is that approval to construct solar power plants has been given to two unregistered companies and to a number of companies of which the boards of directors are the same. It seems that all these illegal activities may have been carried out by misleading or bribing these state institutions. However, it is disappointing to note that, despite all these facts being brought to light, no state institution has taken steps to stop these illegal and harmful activities.

The 150 MW solar power plant project, which is said to be a USD150 million investment project, is being implemented by a group of companies named Hambanthota 150 MW Solar PV Project – Group of Companies. This is not a registered company. The key persons in the boards of directors of 8 of the 12 companies belonging to this group, namely Geneco (Pvt.) Ltd., Solargen (Pvt.) Ltd., Stallion Energy Solar (Pvt.) Ltd., Elephant Power International (Pvt.) Ltd., Madunagala Agrico (Pvt.) Ltd., Leisure Creation (Pvt.) Ltd., Talna Solar (Pvt.) Ltd., and Greenline Solar (Pvt.) Ltd., are Palawinnage Charana Mithsuka Kumaranatunga, Dulanga Kumaranatunga, Madusanka Purawaruna Fernando and Liu Kai, a Chinese national. The said Chinese national, who represents the boards of directors of five companies, is said to be the main investor in the entire project. Charana Kumaranatunga represents the boards of directors of seven companies, and he is also the main partner in the group of companies that implement the entire project.

For the implementation of this project by a number of companies belonging to the same group, obtaining environmental approvals, acquiring land on lease basis, and entering into agreements with the Sustainable Energy Authority and the Ceylon Electricity Board have been done as separate companies. It is in order to avoid the environmental impact assessment process and to facilitate land lease from the Mahaweli Authority that this project is being implemented in this manner under a number of companies. It seems that these companies have got the support of the state institutions for such illegal evasions and omissions. 

Apart from that, it has been discovered through our investigations that the two companies named Electrolyte (Pvt.) Ltd. and Circle Line (Pvt.) Ltd., which operate under the Hambanthota 150 MW Solar PV Project – Group of Companies, which is implementing the 150 MW solar power plant project, are not registered companies. It is a serious issue as to how the Mahaweli Authority, the Sustainable Energy Authority and the Central Environmental Authority have entered into agreements with and leased out lands to unregistered companies that are without legal personality. It appears that the officials of these state institutions have done all this without proper examination. About 5,365 farmer families in the Mayurapura Division, who have been settled under the Walawa Left Bank Project of the Mahaweli Development Programme, and the farmer community in the areas of Gonnoruwa, Meegahajadura, Thanamalwila and Galwewa have been affected by these illegal and harmful activities.

As a result of the clearing of forest in an area of about one thousand acres on the border of the Elephant Management Reserve for the solar power projects implemented by these companies using illegal permits, elephants have lost their habitats and are increasingly encroaching on villages escalating the human-elephant conflict to a very serious level. Not only the number of fatalities, but also the number of people who become permanently disabled due to attacks by elephants are on the increase. For this reason, some farmers have resorted to abandoning their farming fields. Therefore, this is now developing into a social and economic problem. Moreover, the killing of elephants has also become a growing issue. 

All these give rise to a violation of the fundamental rights of the people. Since implementation of the law, giving the protection of the law and administration of the law should be fair and equal in terms of Article 12(1) in Chapter III, the Fundamental Rights Chapter of the Constitution, the citizens have a fundamental right to be free from unlawful, arbitrary acts or omissions that cause or permit pollution or deterioration of the environment as interpreted by the Government in Article 27(14) of the Constitution for the benefit of the people.

Officials of state institutions, whose salaries are paid out of the taxpayers' money, cannot act against the aspirations of the people, but the Sustainable Energy Authority, the Mahaweli Authority and the Central Environmental Authority have acted in such manner that the wishes of solar power companies are fulfilled. Therefore, the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, the Auditor General's Department, and the Attorney General's Department must make immediate intervention and take action against the illegal omissions committed by these state institutions and must also take action to stop these illegal solar power projects.

Dulanga Cumarathunga

Charana Cumarathunga

Liu Kai and Madusanka Fernando