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| Sunday, 31 March 2002 |
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'Power
cuts due to non-implementation of long-term CEB plans'
by Surekha Galagoda The electricity rates in Sri Lanka will be among the highest in the world with the new electricity tariffs by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), which comes into effect tomorrow. "The present power cuts and the price increases are a direct result of the non-implementation of the CEB's long term plan, including the commissioning of the coal power plant at Norochcholai," said the President of the Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka (IESL) B.R.O. Fernando at a press conference. He said the average price of electricity will now be about Rs 8 per unit. Even this high price is inadequate to cover the costs of generation and supply of electricity as the CEB is compelled to resort to the use of emergency power using auto diesel. Fernando estimates the price of electricity will rise to about Rs 11 per unit due to the delay in the decision to implement low cost electricity generation plants. "Therefore the IESL is calling upon the government to immediately implement the Norochcholai power plant and to embark on a second power plant to be commissioned in 2013," he urged. The IESL called upon the government to seek funding from all sources to ensure that they are built with the least delay. The proposed coal-fired power plant will stabilise electricity prices and ensure a reliable supply. Since 1985 successive boards of the CEB on the instructions of the governments in power have delayed this project by shifting the site from Trincomalee to Mawella and finally to Norochcholai. Managing Director, Resource Management Associate Ltd Dr Tilak Siyambalapitiya said that at present not a single power plant is under construction. Therefore, major simultaneous decisions are required immediately to get over the crisis. Dr Siyambalapitiya while praising the Upper Kotmale project hoped that it will not be further delayed as it is already six years behind schedule. He said that if the coal-fired power plants are implemented immediately, the long term price of a unit of electricity will not exceed Rs 7.50 as coal-fired power is the cheapest. Dr Siyambalapitiya said that firm realistic schedules are needed first in the long-term as well as in the medium and short term to get over the crisis. He said the decision to build a power plant is 15 years behind schedule, but we need all the sites and not one. He said: "We have been looking for sites for the last 17 years. Initially, the plant was to be built in Trincomalee way back in 1982 but it was shifted to Matara in 1989. From 1993-2002, we have been at Norochcholai." "We are not short of sites, therefore the government should take a decision and implement it as jumping from one site to the other will not solve the problem," he warned. |
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