More power to Hambantota

Walter Liyanaarachchi

Hambantota District electricity demand will be met by the end of the year providing 40,000 new connections as planned in 2007.

This includes all the difficult and remote areas which were ignored in the past due to various reasons.

Realising that mega and small-time development projects were coming up in the District and taking into consideration the toiling peasants in the remote areas of the Hambantota District, Ports, Aviation and Shipping Minister Chamal Rajapaksa in collaboration with President Mahinda Rajapaksa had decided to formulate the special project Lighting Sri Lanka Hambantota District in 2006.

The objectives under the project have been successfully accomplished by meeting the stipulated targets, said Lighting Sri Lanka Hambantota District Project Director, S. Bogahawatte. Due to the dynamic workforce in the District and the assistance of efficient and dedicated engineers, the challenge could be met. In 2006 the power supply to Lunugamvehera was 36 percent, Weeraketiya 46 percent and Katuwawela, 26 percent. But today the project could enhance the supply upto 90 percent, 85 percent and 80 percent respectively, Bogahawatte said.

The demand to start minor industries with self-employment opportunities has increased considerably recording a marked improvement in upcoming new industries.

The project had been formulated with the primary objective of achieving 100 percent customer reach in the District. This means that all households in the Districts will have access to electricity network within close proximity so that electricity connections could be obtained by them at a nominal cost. Related scope of work includes expansion of electricity supply connections to 40,000 additional customers, he said

Upgrading the network capacity to accommodate future growth, improvement of reliability and quality of supply to all customers, improvement of operational efficiency (loss reduction) and energy conservation are other objectives of the project.

The electricity supply service in Hambantota District could not be considered satisfactory from the customer point of view in 2006. It was estimated that about 30 percent of the consumers in Hambantota District were affected by low supply voltage levels during peak hours. The reliability of the network did not meet the customer expectations due to frequent failures caused by long or overloaded distribution lines and operation and maintenance issues.

The reports indicate that the average duration of loss of supply per consumer per year was estimated to be 24 hours. It is evident that the reliability of supply has a significant impact on the economy as the service sector is the second predominant economic sector of the district. But due to the prudent step taken by the government by formulating this project such weaknesses could be eliminated, Bogahawatte said.