Completion of 35MW Broadlands hydro plant held up due to non-availability of Chinese experts

by Ifham Nizam

The completion of 35MW Broadlands hydro plant scheduled for December is expected to be further delayed due to the non-availability of top Chinese experts in Sri Lanka, officials said.

The delay will further add to the debt burden of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), which is projected to be between Rs. 55 and Rs. 60 billion as against Rs. 85 billion in 2019, they asserted.

With the proposed commissioning of the plant, the CEB would save more than Rs. 10 million per day, the officials said.

CEB Chairman Eng. Vijitha Herath told The Sunday Island that despite coranavirus fear worldwide in May, the tunnel was completed in two stages. However, the Power House installation has to be handled by the Chinese experts.

He said that 45 Chinese experts were expected here and the delay was due to corona pandemic. However, plans are underway to get them down at the earliest.

He also said that it would take about three months to complete the 35 MW Hydro Power Plant, which will generate 125 million units or 125 GWh annually, which works out to a saving Rs. 3.75 billion.

The CEB senior management recently visited the 3.5km tunnel of the proposed Broadlands Project on the instructions of the Presidential Task Force led by Senior President’s Advisor Basil Rajapaksa.

The 35 MW plant over the Kelani River at Kitulgala is being constructed by the Chinese government-owned China National Electric Equipment Corporation, while its consultancy and monitoring is by the Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau of Sri Lanka.

The total estimated cost of the project is USD 82 million, which was partially financed by a USD 69.7 million loan from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. The balance is funded by the Hatton National Bank of Sri Lanka.

The Broadlands project is the last plant in the Lakshapana cascade power station complex on the Kelani River system, which was started 50 years ago.

The construction of the Plant would prevent some 88,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year. A unique feature that the project is that it is Sri Lanka’s first large-scale hydropower plant associated with the Clean Development Mechanism established under the International Kyoto Protocol.

After the completion of the project, plans have been prepared to construct an energy park, including a hydropower museum in the area expecting the area as a tourist attraction.

Senior engineers of the CEB said that sidelining two important hydro power projects, which were scheduled to go into operation from 2015, were among some controversial proposals included in the Board’s Least Cost Generation Plan.

A senior engineer said that the plan to sideline crucial and inexpensive hydro generation projects had cost the CEB at least Rs. 5 billion rupees annually as it had to rely on costly thermal power to fill the void. “In other words, it is between Rs. 20 and Rs. 25 billion of public funds,” he said

Broadlands 35MW and Uma Oya 120MW hydro plants were scheduled to commence operations by the beginning of 2015, as per the 2011 plan. However, in the 2011 plan addendum and 2013 plan, they were put off due to some unknown reason to commence in 2016, but further delays have held up their commissioning, an official said.

The delays should be investigated, senior engineers said, while pointing out that holding back the construction of the hydro plants had an adverse cost implications on the CEB and the country at large.

It also added to the worsening air pollution situation through the use of thermal plants, he said.