Electricity for liberated areas

Wasantha Ramanayake

The electrification along the Omanthai Mankulam road had been completed at a cost of ten million rupees, a Power and Energy Ministry official said.

According to the official all the three zones of the Menik Farm had been provided with electricity at cost of Rs. Six million. Further the Ceylon Electricity Board has spent over Rs. five million to provide Padaviya hospital with electricity.

Under the Uthuru Vasanthaya program of the President, Power and Energy Minister W.D.J. Senevirathne has given instructions to the CEB to launch a program to provide electricity to all the villages in the Northern Province, the official said.

The CEB has already set up a 36 MW thermal power plant in Chunnakam, providing electricity to over 600,000 persons in Jaffna. The plant will be commissioned by the end of this month the official said.

He added that the World Bank has agreed to provide financial assistance to the electricity infrastructure development in the liberated areas in the North and the Japanese Bank for Economic Co-operation has also pledged to provide financial assistance to construct a 31 km long new transmission line from Vavuniya to Kilinochchi and a grid substation in Kilinochchi at a cost of Rs. 1,686 million.