Electricity for all before end of 2012

by Ananda KANNANGARA

Power and Energy Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka emphasised the importance of energy saving, since the country is currently spending heavily on importing fossil fuels.

He said energy is the life blood of the country since no development activities could be carried out without energy. The Minister said our country has still not found fossil fuel resources, diesel and coal.

Minister Ranawaka made these observations at the fourth SAARC Energy Ministers' Meeting, held in Dhaka, Bangladesh last Thursday. A large number of ministers from various countries was present at the meeting and presented their views on the steps taken by their countries to save energy.

The Minister also highlighted that Sri Lanka is in the process of exploring for gas and oil resources; if this endeavour is a success the country will never face an energy scarcity, he said.

He said our country is blessed with hydro power due to the large number of freely available water resources, but the recent global economic downturn and natural causes such as global warming, severe droughts and unexpected floods badly affected our hydropower system.

He said the Government is in the process of trying to convert high cost thermal power plants to low cost thermal power plants by introducing new technologies.

"We are targeting the reduction of our usage of fossil fuels for energy production by 2020 as a medium-term solution", he said.

The Minister said in spite of all these obstacles, the Government has planned to provide electricity to every household by the end of next year.