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| Sunday, 17 July 2005 |
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High power costs, a drawback to attract investments by Hiran H. Senewiratne The high electricity costs and inconsistent power supply in the country is the barrier to attract investments in the urban and rural sectors, a top businessman Chamber head said. This was revealed in an assessment report on the investment climate in Sri Lanka by the World Bank and the Asia Development Bank, the Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce (CCC), Deva Rodrigo said. According to the assessment report the high cost of electricity and inconsistent power supply hinders investments in the country, which require urgent reforms, Rodrigo told the CCC's 166th Annual General Meeting (AGM), recently. He said the government should expedite power sector reforms to face future challenges in the next few decades. "When the demand for electricity outstrips supply the dependence on thermal generation increases and therefore the country could expect power cuts or higher tariffs or both," Rodrigo said. He said that with the high electricity costs, people are not prepared to invest heavily specially in the urban and rural areas in the country. The most important thing at this juncture is to restructure the entire power sector rather than restructuring the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) alone, Rodrigo said. "We need to restructure the CEB to regulate the industry and have competition at the supply level, as it is in UK, to break the monopoly," he said. Rodrigo also said that to develop human capital we must enact the draft Bill on Universities which was finalised in 2000. He said that if the country can attract at least 10 per cent of the many thousands of Sri Lankans who are adding value to giant global corporations with world class knowledge and ability it will help to accelerate the current slow growth in the country. Rodrigo said that Sri Lanka should deviate from depending on Middle-East worker remittances, which now account for more than 20 per cent of the export income. He said the Ambassador designated to Saudi Arabia was told that the social costs of sending young women to work overseas is higher than the revenue that comes into the country because children of those families are affected due to the lost love and care of mothers, he said. Speaking about HIV/AIDS, he said that last month alone 39 new cases were detected, which is the highest number so far reported in the country. He said that it is the high time to break the stigma on the use of precautionary measures to prevent the spread of this dreadful disease. At the AGM, a top businessman C.P De Silva was inducted as a honorary member of the CCC by Deva Rodrigo. |
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