Speaking with Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar during his October 4 visit to Colombo, the Sri Lankan government did not talk about projects backed by India, including the contentious Adani wind-power projects, a Cabinet spokeswoman Minister Vijitha Herath said yesterday.
Herath added at the press conference held after the Cabinet that Jaishankar had been informed that the Cabinet was a transitional one by the Sri Lankan ministers. “There will soon be a general election. The President has just been appointed. He stated, “As of now, we have not made the decision to approve any new projects or to reject any of the Indian ones.
“Indian controversial projects on hold until a new government is formed”
According to Herath, following the election of a new President, the Indian Ministers of External Affairs would typically travel to Sri Lanka. “We have invited Prime Minister Modi to come here, and he asked President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to visit India,” he said.
According to Herath, taking decisions about any foreign initiative during this period of transition would be unethical. The Adani wind-power project is one among the overseas ventures over which a new government must make decisions.
“Adani is not building the wind-power project due to several reasons. One is that some areas of the project that require further attention have been called up by the Public Utilities Commission. The court cases that are still pending are the other. Thirdly, there are ideas and proposals from the CEB staff. Before making a choice, we need to look at things thoroughly and comprehensively,” he said.
