Investigations have revealed that the government’s controversial easing of environmental regulations appears closely aligned with the interests of a small but powerful coalition of politically connected investors, environmentalists have alleged.

The move weakens key Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) requirements and accelerates approvals for high-risk projects, has triggered a storm of criticism from environmental scientists, civil society groups and even sections within the administration, they have claimed.

Environmental Scientist Hemantha Withanage, Executive Director of the Centre for Environmental Justice, told The Island that the policy reversal “bears the fingerprints of elite political financiers who view Sri Lanka’s natural assets as commodities to be carved up for profit.”

“This is not accidental. This is deliberate restructuring to favour a specific group of power brokers,” he told The Island. “The list of beneficiaries is clear: large-scale mineral extraction interests, luxury hotel developers targeting protected coastlines, politically backed hydropower operators, industrial agriculture companies seeking forest land, and quarry operators with direct political patronage.”

Information gathered through government insiders points to four clusters of projects that stand to gain substantially:

Several politically shielded operators have been lobbying for years to weaken environmental checks on silica sand mining, gem pit expansions, dolomite extraction and rock quarrying in the central and northwestern regions.

High-end tourism ventures — especially in coastal and wetland buffer zones — have repeatedly clashed with community opposition and EIA conditions. The rollback clears obstacles previously raised by environmental officers.

At least half a dozen mini-hydro proposals in protected catchments have stalled due to community objections and ecological concerns. The new rules are expected to greenlight them.

Plantation and agribusiness companies with political links are seeking access to forest-adjacent lands, especially in the North Central and Uva Provinces.

“These sectors have been pushing aggressively for deregulation,” a senior Ministry source confirmed. “Now they’ve got exactly what they wanted.”

Internal rifts within the Environment Ministry are widening. Several senior officers told The Island they were instructed not to “delay or complicate” approvals for projects endorsed by select political figures.

A senior officer, requesting anonymity, said:

“This is not policymaking — it’s political engineering. Officers who raise scientific concerns are sidelined.”

Another added:”There are files we cannot even question. The directive is clear: expedite.”

Opposition parliamentarians are preparing to demand a special parliamentary probe into what they call “environmental state capture” — the takeover of regulatory functions by those with political and financial leverage.

“This is governance for the few, not the many,” an Opposition MP told The Island. “The rollback benefits the government’s inner circle and their funders. The public gets the consequences: floods, landslides, water scarcity.”

Withanage issued a stark warning:

“When rivers dry up, when villages are buried in landslides, when wetlands vanish, these will not be natural disasters. These will be political crimes — caused by decisions made today under pressure from financiers.”

He said CEJ was already preparing legal and public campaigns to challenge the changes.

“We will expose the networks behind these decisions. We will not allow Sri Lanka’s environment to be traded for political loyalty.”

Civil society organisations, environmental lawyers and grassroots communities are mobilising for a nationwide protest and legal response. Several cases are expected to be filed in the coming weeks.

“This is only the beginning,” Withanage said firmly. “The fight to protect Sri Lanka’s environment is now a fight against political capture itself.”

By Ifham Nizam