Electricity for all by 2010

Chaminda Perera

The Government has completed over 1,500 out of 4,300 rural electrification schemes islandwide and 86 percent of total households are provided with electricity, Power and Energy Minister W.D.J. Seneviratne said. He said the Ministry was able to increase the number of households with electricity from 70 percent in 2005 to 86 percent by this year on President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s directive.

According to Minister Seneviratne, over 700 rural electrification schemes were completed in the Badulla, Kegalle, Kalutara and Moneragala districts while 200 projects were completed in the Ratnapura district and the North Central province under Semata Viduliya and Widulamu Sri Lanka programs.

The Minister added that the Government can easily achieve the target of providing electricity to all households by 2012 with the completion of these rural electrification schemes.

Over 58,000 households were supplied electricity from the beginning of this year.