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| Friday, 5 September 2003 |
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by Rashomi Silva The Kukule Hydro Power Plant (KHPP), the country's second underground power station will be officially inaugurated by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe this month, the KHPP office announced yesterday. The power plant which is now on a test run can add 1.8 million power units to the National Grid daily after the commissioning. The electricity output of the power plant will be connected to the existing Matugama substation, the office said. The project set in two stages will be completed with the official commissioning of the second phase in mid September. The first stage was completed last July. The KHPP project costs Rs 15 billion. The local component was provided by the Ceylon Electricity Board while the foreign component of over Rs. 12 billion was given by the Overseas Economic Co-operation Fund of Japan (JIBC). Located in the Kalutara and Agalawatte electorates, the Kukule river is a tributary of Kalu ganga, and has a catchment of 312 Sq.Km at the project site. It receives an annual rainfall of 3750mm. Commenting on the environmental impact of the project, the official said: "Several plans were studied and the current option emerged as the least harmful." The project initially designed in the late 80s was initiated in 1997 but was over two years behind schedule due to improper planning and lack of management. With Power and Energy Minister Karu Jayasuriya taking the helm of the Power sector in the latter part of 2001, he was able to complete the mission even before the initially scheduled date, the official added. |
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