North connected to the national grid after two decades:

Chunnakam sub station to be opened on Sept 15

by Uditha Kumarasinghe

President Mahinda Rajapaksa will open the newly built Chunnakam sub station in Jaffna on September 15, reconnecting the North to the national grid after a lapse of two decades.

The Jaffna peninsula will receive electricity from the national grid after 26 years through the Chunnakam power station. The 63 MW Chunnakam sub station constructed at a cost of Rs. 1,800 million will provide electricity to 120,000 households.

Small and medium scale industries will also be provided electricity through the Chunnakam grid station, fulfilling the entire electricity requirement of the North, Power and Energy Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi told the Sunday Observer yesterday.

The Minister said the Jaffna peninsula was provided electricity by the Lakshapana hydropower plant 22 years ago. Jaffna was deprived of the national grid in 1990 due to LTTE terrorism. Electricity was supplied only to a limited area in the North including the Jaffna town with generators during LTTE terrorism.

After terrorism was eradicated in 2009, the Uthuru Wasanthaya development program was launched by the Economic Development Ministry to provide electricity to all households in the North following a directive from President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The Government has spent Rs. 5,000 million on rural electrification projects under the Uthuru Wasanthaya development program.

In addition, the 24 MW power station Uthuru Janani in Kilinochchi was commissioned by President Rajapaksa in February this year at a cost of Rs. 3,500 million, she said.

Minister Wanniarachchi said at present electricity is provided to all towns in the Jaffna peninsula and almost all Government institutions and hospitals have been provided electricity

Sixty seven percent of the domestic electricity requirement in the Kilinochchi district, 90 percent in Vavuniya district, 80 percent in Mannar district and 50 percent in the Mullaitivu district has also been fulfilled under the Uthuru Wasanthaya Program.

Nearly 217 transformers, 627 Km of high tension power lines and 1,720 low tension lines have been installed. Nearly 67,000 households have already been provided an uninterrupted power supply.