CEB seeks dollars for overseas transformer inspection trip

by Ifham Nizam

The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has asked the permission of the Ministry of Power for two of its senior engineers, including a divisional head, to visit a transformer factory in Turkey for two weeks to inspect two transformers ordered by the CEB.

A senior Ministry official confirmed that the trip would cost more than Rs. five million and all expenses including airfare, hotel accommodation meals, etc., had to be paid in US dollars.

The official added that the papers submitted to the Ministry did not indicate how the foreign currency would be provided in the current situation where the CEB is unable to find dollars to pay for its essential imports.

CEB Chairman M M C Ferdinando has stated repeatedly that the CEB has been forced to impose long power cuts primarily because of a shortage of dollars to purchase fuel to run  thermal power plants.

“Against this backdrop, it is learned that the CEB has sometimes resorted to providing local currency to its engineers travelling abroad to purchase dollars from the black market since the banks are unable to provide the necessary foreign currency,” a senior Electrical Engineer said.

The Turkish company provided eight large transformers needed for the CEB’s transmission network, in 2018, and all of them developed oil leaks because of a manufacturing defect.

It is understood that a committee of experts, appointed by the Ministry of Power, has recommended the suspension of procuring transformers from this manufacturer for two years until the satisfactory field performance of the eight transformers in question could be established by CEB engineers.

Despite the CEB implementing this recommendation, in 2020 the two transformers in question were ordered from the same company.

During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, in 2020 and 2021, factory inspections of transformers and other major equipment were successfully carried out by CEB engineers online when most countries such as Germany, France, and USA were closed to visitors.

“By doing that not only has the CEB saved a substantial amount of dollars but also given the opportunity to a large number of engineers to learn from the testing. It has been the practice that testing at the manufacturers’ facility abroad is limited to one or two senior engineers, and even used sometimes as a parting gift for retiring CEB engineers,” an official said.