Lights for urban and rural areas in Jaffna

by Ananda KANNANGARA

A massive electrification scheme to provide electricity to all urban and rural areas in the Jaffna Peninsula will be launched by the Power and Energy Ministry shortly, on a directive by Minister W.D.J. Seneviratne.

The Power and Energy Minister told the Sunday Observer yesterday that the Chunnakam power plant which is being constructed in the Northern province is expected to add 35 megawatts to the national grid and the new power plant will benefit Jaffna and several other suburban districts.

"The one-and-a-half hour power cut, currently imposed in several areas in the peninsula will end with the commissioning of the Chunnakam power project," the Minister said.

He said a special team of CEB officials including electrical engineers will visit Jaffna shortly to ascertain the areas where electricity is not available at present.

"Although the CEB had provided electricity to almost all areas in the Northern peninsula in the past, many transformers and power supply lines had been destroyed due to terror activities," he said.

He said all obstacles to provide electricity in the Northern and Eastern provinces have been overcome with the end of terrorism and the CEB has made arrangements to instal transformers and power lines in these areas as soon as possible.