To provide electricity for all:

Athwela lightens poor

Soft Samurdhi loan of Rs 30,000:

Dharma SRI ABEYRATNE

The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) together with Samurdhi Bank is carrying out the Viduli Athwela, the financial assistance program to assist every family to get an electricity connection from the National Grid.

Through the Viduli Athwela program, the Samurdhi Bank, will grant a soft loan up to Rs 30,000 maximum.

The loan can be settled in 48 instalments after a six month grace period. Low income families, especially Samurdhi recipients will be benefited by Viduli Athwela since Samurdhi Banks are backed by Samurdhi recipients in the country. Setting a target to provide every household with electricity is a clear indication that the Government has taken every possible step for the well-being of people, said Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa at the inauguration ceremony of Viduli Athwela program introduced to assist low income families to get electricity connections.

The Government has commenced several mega scale electricity generating projects such as Kerawalapitiya Combined Cycle Power Plant, Upper Kotmale Hydro power project, Puttalam Coal Power project, Trincomalee Coal Power Project, Broadland Hydro power Project, Uma Oya Power project and several other mega scale and medium scale projects.

Even though many of the countries in the world face an energy crisis or will face it in the future, Sri Lanka is in a satisfactory position, Minister Rajapaksa added. Power and Energy Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka said over 90 percent of households have already been supplied with electricity through mega power projects that have been implemented under a long-term infrastructure development plan. Therefore the Government of Sri Lanka has set a target to provide all households with electricity by 2012.

However the low income situation has become a hindrance for obtaining an electricity supply since a considerably high initial payment has to be made when obtaining an electricity connection from the CEB. The Viduli Athwela program was introduced as a remedy for this financial drawback.

The forecast made by the CEB on the growth of electricity demand in the country, projects a growth between 7 to 8 percent annually in the next decade. Due to the rapid growth in some sectors of the industry and the accelerated effort in electrification, the demand may increase than predicted. But Sri Lanka has taken many steps to get rid of probable energy crisis in the future. The Government has invested Rs 350 billion in several electricity generating projects from 2005, Minister Ranawaka added.

The Minister further said that the electricity tariff in the country is high. “Our aim is to control and bring down the high electricity tariff to an affordable amount while providing every household with electricity.”