Sampur to get green light
by Rukshana Rizwie
The Central Environment Authority(CEA) after a lapse of over a year
has finally granted approval under stringent conditions to implement the
Trincomalee (Sampur) Thermal Power Plant project. Prof. Lal Dharmasiri,
CEA Chairman told the Sunday Observer that approval for the Environment
Impact Assessment report, submitted in January was granted conditional
approval.
An authoritative source, however, said the CEA was compelled to
approve the project which was riddled with controversy for several
years. “There was a political commitment made recently where the
government of Sri Lanka could no longer back track, regardless of
crippling issues concerning the plant,” he said. The Sunday Observer is
in receipt of the confidential document bearing the CEA’s approval of
the EIA, which was sent to the Trincomalee Power Company Limited (TPCL)
on February 21, two days before Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma
Swaraj arrived in the Island.
It was widely reported that Minister Swaraj had specifically inquired
about the Sampur Power Plant and on speeding up clearance for the
project which has been in the doldrums since 2006 during the 9th Joint
Commission Meeting in Colombo last week.
Meanwhile, President Maithripala Sirsena convened a meeting on
Thursday (11) to discuss the specifics of the approval from the CEA. Our
source who was present at the meeting said the President took a neutral
stance regarding the project. The Ministry of Power and Energy along
with the CEB accepted conditional approval.
“There was no room for debate or questions, it was a done deal,” the
source revealed. “It will be hard for the TPCL to go ahead with so many
restrictions and conditions, but it’s necessary to have those in place.”
One of the key proposals in the EIA which was flatly rejected by the
CEA was the location of the plant. India proposed that the Plant be
located in close proximity to the bay, however, the document notes that
disposal of high temperature cooling water into the shell bay was no
longer acceptable. Other conditions refer to the disposal of waste
water, air pollution control, disposal of solid and hazardous waste,
extraction of water, surface draining, noise pollution, transport of
materials and safety. The document also notes that people directly
affected due to the project will need to be properly compensated by the
company.
In August last year, the President handed over title deeds to 25 of
the 1272 families displaced from Sampur in 2006. Residents are, however,
denied access to 2,795 acres of land demarcated for the project. Some
2,200 people from Sampur are still languishing at several welfare
centres in the area.
The JVP lodged a complaint at the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission
over the rights of 30,000 people who would be displaced when
construction of the plant begins JVP trade union leader KD Lal Kantha
said their report concerns the plight of the thousands of internally
displaced people. |
