ABB to expand its presence in Sri Lanka

Shirajiv Sirimane

One of the leading Power and Automation companies in the world, the ABB is to expand its presence in Sri Lanka.

Executive Vice President Frank Duggan speaking to 'Daily News Business', said that they were in Sri Lanka for the past 60 years and had been involved in many projects. "We are now looking at incorporating a fully fledged company in Sri Lanka by the end of the year."

He said that the Sri Lankan economy was growing fast and they see tremendous opportunities for growth. "This growth is not seen in many other countries."

He said that currently, they were carrying out their Sri Lankan and Maldivian operations through a Liaison office with Dusyantha Rupasinha as their General Manager.

"Our motto is 'think Global and act local' and to implement this we need local expertise."

He said that they had a strong presence in India with manufacturing plants. "We may look at similar opportunities in Sri Lanka as well." Major projects executed by the ABB include, the Kotmale, Randenigala and Rantembe Hydro Power Plants during the Mahaweli Development Project, National System Control Centre at Dematagoda, Automation and Plant Control Systems at Kerawalapitiya, a Power Plant and Kaluganga Water Supply Project in Horana were examples of state - of - the - art equipment from ABB.

Some of the major projects under execution includes, Construction of the Valachchenai and Augmentation of Ampara Grid Substations, under the Clean and Energy Access Improvement Project, The New Galle Power Transmission Development Project under which a most modern Grid substation would be built, strengthening the power transmission network in the south.

He said that their main focus would be to get involved in Sri Lanka's Power and Industrial Automation sectors.

"We are also keen to assist hospitality and commercial buildings to be more energy efficient," he said. There is great potential for the country to develop in the tourism sector and the ABB had many solutions in building services. Currently 65% of their goods & services are for local customers, while around 25% were being re-exported by the local OEM's and EPC contractors. The balance has been for the Maldivian market.