Electricity for 78% of households - Power Minister

The Government has already provided electricity to 78 per cent of the country making the pledge given by the Mahinda Chinthana to provide electricity to all a reality.

Speaking at the Committee Stage debate on his Ministry, Power and Energy Minister W.D.J. Seneviratne said the Government has already taken a series of measures to increase the country’s power generation with the objective of providing electricity to the balance 22 per cent.

The Minister said the Government has planned to add 4,100 MW to the National Grid through five coal power plants within the next five years. Of this 4,100 MW, 900 MW will be generated through the Puttalam Coal Power Plant while 1,200 MW will be obtained through the proposed Hambantota and Mawanella power plants.

It has been planned to generate 1,000 MW from the coal power plant to be constructed in Trincomalee with the assistance of the Indian Government. In addition another 1,000 MW will be generated from the second coal power plant to be constructed in Trincomalee.

He said the Government has also formulated plans to construct four medium scale hydro power plants named Uma Oya, Ginganga, Broadland and Moragolla. Construction work on Uma Oya will commence next year with the financial assistance of the Iranian Government. Uma Oya will generate 90 MW.

Under a directive of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Ministry will commence the construction work on Puttalam Coal Power Plant which had been stopped over the past one decade due to various political and public interferences.

The construction of the Puttalam Coal Power Plant which has the capacity of 900 MW can be introduced as a giant step taken by the Government towards the national energy development of the country.

This project is estimated at US $ 455 million. The Government could also commence the construction work on Upper Kothmale Project and Kerawalapitiya project last year. Both these projects will add 450 MW to the National Grid.

The Kerawalapitiya Power Station will be implemented using a low cost fuel named Hevy oil and it would add 200 MW to the National Grid in the middle of next year.

Seneviratne said the eight per cent economic growth targeted by Mahinda Chinthana will be dependent on the development achieved by the energy sector. We should understand, an economic growth cannot be achieved without developing the power and energy sectors.

The Minister said arrangements are being finalised to obtain a capacity of 2,012 MW from the coal power plants established in Puttalam, Trincomalee and Hambantota. Next to hydro power, coal power plants are the most low cost energy source. The future of the energy sector in Sri Lanka will be dependent on these coal power plants.

“The provision of electricity to 78 per cent of the country is a great success achieved by the Ministry. But nearly 22 per cent of the people do not have electricity. This has highly affected to the country’s socio- economic development,” he said.

According to the Minister, of the 7,200 rural electrification projects, the Ministry has been able to complete 4,900 projects this year by achieving a 88 per cent progress.

This project is being implemented with Chinese funds by covering each countrywide village which does not have electricity.

China has provided 24 million US Dollars to implement this project. The Ministry has provided new electricity connections to 75,000 households by utilising these funds.

Meanwhile, the Ministry has received 7 million US Dollars loan from the Asian Development Bank. The Ministry utilised this loan to expand the electricity supply in the North and East where the electricity supply has been destroyed due to the conflict. The Ministry has provided electricity to 12,000 families in the North and East, he said.

Seneviratne said the capacity of the hydro power stations has been restricted only to 35 per cent of the country’s total electricity demand.

This is the major crisis faced by the energy development sector. Nearly 65 per cent of the total power supply is generated through power stations which are run by fuel. The CEB has to spend Rs. 14 to produce a one electricity unit.

However, the CEB gives one electricity unit to the consumer for Rs. 10.80.

As a result, the CEB has to face Rs. 50 million loss per day. In addition, nearly 20 per cent of power generation is wasted in Sri Lanka. A programme has already been implemented to educate 3.4 million electricity consumers regarding this, the Minister added.