Community partnership in power development

Shirley Wijesinghe

A program to attract community partnership in power development projects in the country will be introduced shortly, Power and Energy Deputy Minister Premalal Jayasekera said.

As an initiative, a project to cut down branches of trees likely to damage power distribution lines will be launched with the partnership of village communities, he added.

He was addressing a discussion with the high officials at the Ratnapura Ceylon Electricity Board Regional Office recently. The community partnership is a key factor for any development project. Likewise it is vital for power development projects at village level too, he said.

Deputy Minister Jayasekera said that villagers are volunteering to give their maximum support to officials if they pursue a friendly approach.

The gulf between the CEB officials and the villagers should removed. The conflict between people and officials are basically due to lack of mutual understanding, Jayasekera pointed out.