Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa had contacted Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe over the telephone on March 21 and asked if the proposed oil refinery could be shifted to Trincomalee, sources close to the Prime Minister said. 

They added that the Opposition Leader had contacted the Prime Minister three days before the ceremony to lay the foundation stone for the refinery. 

It is not immediately clear as to why Rajapaksa wanted to shift the project to Trincomalee. However, our attempts to get a comment from a spokesperson of the Rajapaksa group in this regard did not bear fruit.

Despite the request from Rajapaksa, the Prime Minister declared open the project with a ground-breaking ceremony on the 24th of March alongside Oman’s Minister of Oil and Gas and Accord Group’s Deputy Chairman and Silver Park Petroleum Refinery Director Sandeep Anand.

Namal Rajapaksa has continued his campaign to derail the project through a concerted mainstream and social media campaign questioning the investing company and the viability of the project.

However, on Friday Deputy Minister of International Trade and Development Strategy, Nalin Bandara, told media that the main investor, Accord Group, had already committed to a 10% upfront payment. As of last week, US $400,000 had been received by the GoSL with a further US $3.6 million expected in the next two weeks.