ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s cabinet has approved the transfer of the SAARC Cultural Centre premises in Nawimana, Matara, to the Ministry of Education for the establishment of the Ocean University of Sri Lanka.

The property comprises an 11-acre plot of land with 200,000 square feet of partially completed building space. The premises will be repurposed to resolve accommodation challenges for the university, which currently lacks a single permanent campus.

“The Ocean University of Sri Lanka currently operates out of several rented premises, and this transfer will provide a dedicated facility for its academic programs,” minister Nalinda Jayatissa said.

The move follows a directive issued at a cabinet meeting held on June 1, 2026. At that meeting, ministers instructed the Secretary to the Ministry of Education, Higher Education, and Vocational Education to examine whether the buildings and premises could be utilized for educational or vocational training purposes.

Following that feasibility study, officials concluded that transferring the location to the Ocean University was the most suitable step to support higher education.

“It has been determined that it is appropriate to transfer the cultural centre premises to establish the Ocean University and expand training opportunities.”

The Ministry of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs has provided its concurrence for the handover of the property in Nawimana.

The transfer will allow the state to complete the existing buildings and provide the Ocean University with its own central campus, ending its practice of operating across several rented spaces. (Colombo/Oct20/2026)

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s Colombo Stock Exchange closed down on Tuesday, CSE data showed, with the benchmark All Share Price Index moving down 0.38 percent.

The ASPI was down 75.64 points at 19,983.78, while the more liquid S&P SL20 was down 0.25 percent, or 13.98 points, at 5,686.77.

Positive contributors to the ASPI were C T Holdings (up 3.13 percent at 536.00 rupees), Namunukula Plantations (up 2.95 percent at 62.80 rupees), Industrial Asphalts (Ceylon) (up 20.00 percent at 0.60 rupees), John Keells Holdings (up 0.56 percent at 17.80 rupees), and ACL Cables (up 0.91 percent at 89.00 rupees).

Kotmale Holdings (down 4.50 percent at 1,146.00 rupees), Access Engineering (down 2.46 percent at 75.30 rupees), LOLC Holdings (down 2.27 percent at 398.75 rupees), Dialog Axiata (down 0.47 percent at 42.80 rupees), and Hatton National Bank (down 0.47 percent at 373.25 rupees) were top negative contributors.

Market turnover was 794.96 million rupees. The S&P/CSE Banks industry group led turnover with 250.97 million rupees.

Top crossings were recorded in Sampath Bank (138.00 million rupees), Melstacorp (57.55 million rupees), CAL Three Year Closed End Fund (53.52 million rupees), and Access Engineering (44.86 million rupees), according to Dewangi De Silva, Assistant Manager – Research at NDB Securities.

Vidullanka PLC announced the ceremonial commissioning of its 10 MW Ranna solar power project in Hambantota took place on Tuesday, following its grid connection on September 23 under a long-term Power Purchase Agreement with the Ceylon Electricity Board. The project is operated by DPV Solar Energy (Pvt) Ltd, a 50 percent joint venture alongside the David Peiris Group.

Meanwhile, Access Engineering PLC said shareholders have agreed to terminate the South Asia Commercial and Logistics Hub project, with the company anticipating a recovery of approximately 1.453 billion rupees from its total investment of roughly 1.762 billion rupees. (Colombo/Oct20/2026)

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s island-wide blackout on Saturday, October 17, occurred after a coal power unit tripped during maintenance, exposing an electricity grid destabilized by nearly 1,700 megawatts of unmonitored renewable energy, Energy Minister Aruna Karunathilaka told parliament.

The government has launched an official inquiry through the Ministry Secretary to determine why risky maintenance was scheduled when electricity demand was low and renewable generation peaked.

“We have already questioned the relevant officials regarding why such risky maintenance was undertaken on a day when system demand was at a minimum, the sun was shining brightly, and large amounts of renewable energy were feeding into the grid,” Karunathilaka said.

Before the 11:43 am outage, the National System Operator managed 1,137 MW from controlled sources—516 MW of coal and 621 MW of hydro—alongside roughly 1,700 MW of unmonitored, predominantly solar power.

During maintenance on Unit 1 at the Norochcholai coal plant, a boiler diaphragm dislodged and ruptured, forcing the unit to trip for safety. The sudden loss caused system frequency to drop rapidly, triggering unmonitored renewables to trip offline faster than conventional plants could compensate and collapsing grid equilibrium.

“We can understand a single unit tripping. But how a failure in a single unit escalates into a collapse of the entire system is something we must thoroughly scrutinize,” Karunathilaka said, noting that under grid regulations, a single unit trip should never cause a national network to collapse.

Restoration began at 12:37 pm via the Kotmale plant, though out-of-sequence reconnections by external plants slowed progress. The high-voltage transmission grid was restored by 4:58 pm, and power was fully returned to all consumers by 9:56 pm, with priority given to hospitals, water treatment plants, and airports. Karunathilaka clarified that the Kotmale station had no connection to the initial failure.

During parliamentary debate, opposition lawmaker Ravi Karunanayake questioned why grid spinning reserves failed to prevent the blackout. Karunanayake argued that with total generation at 2,870 MW, a standard spinning reserve of 10 to 15 percent should provide a buffer of 280 to 425 MW, which ought to have easily absorbed a 175 MW drop from the coal unit.

A spinning reserve is unused electricity generating capacity that is already online, synchronized to the power grid, and capable of ramping up within seconds to minutes if an unexpected power loss occurs.

Karunanayake also alleged the boiler failure stemmed from burning substandard coal linked to a past coal procurement scam. He claimed the wider fallout resulted in an accumulated 56-billion-rupee economic loss, comprising 16 billion rupees in direct plant damages, 15 billion rupees in government subsidies, and 25 billion rupees in excess costs incurred from burning expensive emergency diesel.

Karunathilaka rejected both the substandard coal allegations and the loss estimate.

“The issue regarding coal quality occurred during the previous season. By September 4, almost all of that coal had been completely exhausted, and after September 4, what we have been using is new coal,” Karunathilaka said.

He explained that Unit 1 was completely overhauled and resumed operations on September 29 using only fresh coal.

Responding to the reserve issue, Karunathilaka stated that capacity at the Victoria hydro station functioned as the spinning reserve. However, the grid was vulnerable because roughly 2,000 MW of installed rooftop solar inverters were not configured to ride through frequency drops down to 47.5 Hz, causing them to trip offline. Recommendations from an EPRI study on grid inertia and spinning reserve criteria are now being implemented, he added. (Colombo/Oct20/2026)

ECONOMYNEXT — Sri Lanka’s cabinet has approved a revised plan to implement the remaining work of the Kolonnawa Stormwater Drainage and Environmental Improvement Project over three years at an estimated cost of 15,077.82 million rupees.

The Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal presented by the Minister of Transport, Highways, and Urban Development to revive the stalled flood-mitigation scheme.

The project originally began several years ago to manage severe rainwater drainage in the area, but work suffered long disruptions.

“Although construction work commenced in 2019, the implementation of its components as originally planned was hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and the subsequent economic crisis,” the cabinet paper stated.

Following these setbacks, authorities prepared a fresh project plan and an updated cost estimate to carry out the remaining tasks across several core components.

Under the new plan, the government will complete ongoing construction on the 3,250-metre Salalihini Mawatha canal and build the 3,868-metre Dahamwela canal. It will also execute specialized tasks, including the construction of dedicated water retention ponds.

Work will also focus on upgrading existing waterways to improve water flow during heavy rainfall.

This includes rehabilitating the 4,475-metre Passanna Canal and the 650-metre Dandu Thota Canal, as well as repairing the Dandu Thota sluice gate. Authorities will also install three mobile pumps, each capable of pumping one cubic metre of rainwater per second.

In addition to physical civil works, the project allocates dedicated funding for social support and property takeover.

The plan covers the “acquisition of essential land plots within the project area, and the implementation of a compensation and relief package—estimated at 1,015 million rupees—for affected families, taking into account the potential impact on their daily livelihoods,” the cabinet note said.

The compensation package aims to protect residents whose daily income could be impacted while the three-year drainage improvement moves forward. (Colombo/Oct20/2026)

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s cabinet has approved the purchase of 200 Tata single cab vehicles for the Sri Lanka Police from Diesel and Motor Engineering (DIMO) PLC under a competitive procurement process, minister Nalinda Jayatissa said.

The purchase follows a cabinet decision taken on February 23, 2026, to procure 200 imported single cab vehicles for official police duties.

Bids were called and seven bidders submitted proposals for the contract.

The cabinet approved a proposal to award the contract to DIMO.

The vehicles will be supplied at a price of 4.785 million rupees each, excluding value-added tax (VAT), according to the cabinet decision.

The new fleet is expected to strengthen the operational and transport capacity of the Sri Lanka Police in carrying out official duties across the country. (Colombo/Oct20/2026)