Sri Lanka’s Board of Investment on Thursday approved two wind power plants by Adani Green Energy Ltd with a total investment of $442 million. Owned by the scandal-hit Adani Group, Adani Green will set up two wind power plants in Mannar and Pooneryn in Sri Lanka reeling under economic crisis currently. “Board of Investment of Sri Lanka issues the letter of approval to India’s Adani Green for the installation of two wind power plants in Mannar & Pooneryn for an investment of USD 442 Mn. The project will add 350 MW of electricity to the national grid within two years,” the BOI tweeted.
The two power plants are scheduled to be commissioned in two years, and accordingly those will be added to the national grid by 2025, a statement by the board said. Sri Lanka’s Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera had earlier said that a provisional approval from the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority was issued two weeks ago and the land acquisition for the project was in progress. Earlier in 2021, Sri Lanka had awarded Adani group a $700 million strategic port terminal project in Colombo. Adani group is building a 1.4-kilometre, 20-metre deep jetty right next to a Chinese-operated terminal at Colombo harbour, which is the only deep-sea container port between Dubai and Singapore.
The development comes after the US investment research firm Hindenburg released a report on January 24 accusing Adani Group of accounting fraud and price manipulation, cutting over $135 billion in market value from Gautam Adani’s empire. The group has, however, dismissed the charges. Adani has, ever since, hired top-shelf US crisis communication and legal teams, scrapped a $850 million coal plant purchase, decided against bidding for stake in PTC India Ltd, reined in expenses, repaid some debt and promises to repay more. Most recently, it said that the company will review its plans to build a coal-to-polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant in Mundra, Gujarat. The group will also not make any significant bids for road projects. While it moderated certain accelerations budgeted in its capex plans, it will continue with the investment plans for its core infrastructure businesses.