Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila said he had never submitted a Cabinet paper for an oil pipeline project costing Rs.15 billion.
He said he will institute legal action against several newspapers for fabricating a story on a purported Cross Country Oil Pipeline Project. He said he had never submitted a Cabinet paper and neither had the President sought the suspension of the said project at any time.
He added that the article mentioned that the President had intervened on the matter and had asked for the project to be halted as it was a waste of Rs.15 billion and that a decision was taken during a Cabinet meeting to suspend the project altogether.
“These are baseless allegations,” he said. “In order to reject a Cabinet paper on the oil pipeline project, I have to submit a report on it which I never did. Neither have I submitted a Cabinet paper,” he told the media during a press briefing. “It was former Minister Kabir Hashim who presented a paper to Cabinet on the project on September 18 in 2019.”
He further said that the value of the project is estimated to be Rs. 9.6 billion and not Rs.15 billion as quoted in the story. “Based on the Cabinet paper submitted by the former minister, the project was estimated to cost Rs.9.6 billion and not Rs.15 billion.”
He also refuted reports that the President had spoken to him over the matter. “The President has not spoken to me about this project. This project was initiated without a feasibility study and an engineering estimate. I instructed Petroleum Storage Terminals to prepare an estimate for the project and to conduct a thorough feasibility study with a reputed company,” he said. “It is evident to me that those who wished to profit from the project are upset and are spewing lies to the media. I have already filed a lawsuit against two newspapers for giving into this fabrication.”
