The afore stated instructions were given to the officials of the Ministry of Power and Energy at the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) held recently (22) under the chairmanship of the Hon. (Prof.) Tissa Vitarana, Member of Parliament.

The officials of the Ministry made a presentation on the Liquefied Natural Gas Mining Projects (LNG) planned in Sri Lanka and their current status and pointed out that there are various obstacles to these mining.

Members of Parliament who were present inquired about the parties involved in this. They also asked if the excavations required the advice of foreign governments. Officials present said there was no need for such advice from other governments.

Accordingly, COPA instructed the officials to complete the excavations as soon as possible as it is in the interest of the country and therefore a road map should be prepared for the excavations as soon as possible.

Hon. Tissa Attanayake, Hon. Lasantha Alagiyawanna, Hon. Dayasiri Jayasekara, Hon. (Dr.) Sudarshini Fernandopulle, Hon. Udaya Gammanpila, Hon. Hesha Withanage, Hon. (Prof.) Ranjith Bandara, Hon. Niroshan Perera, Hon. Mohamad Muzammil, Hon. Duminda Dissanayake, Hon. Weerasumana Weerasinghe, Hon. (Dr.) Upul Galappaththi, Hon. Sivagnanam Shritharan, Hon. B.Y.G. Rathnasekara, Hon. Ashok Abeysinghe and Hon. Prasanna Ranaweera were present at the committee meeting held.