CEB chairman going, going but not gone

By Ifham Nizam

The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) top management yesterday said that their Chairman M. M. C. Ferdinando would stay on as Chairman, because President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had refused to accept his letter of resignation tendered following the appointment of Dr. Rohantha Abeysekara as General Manager of CEB, under pressure from the CEB Engineers’ Union (CEBEU).

Ferdinando previously appointed a retired senior engineer to the post in an acting capacity.

Sources said Ferdinando had been asked to stay on and carry out the President’s renewable energy agenda and the reforms in the CEB.

At a recent meeting the President had with several CEB trade unions including the CEBEU, the CEBEU agreed to carry forward the President’s renewable energy agenda towards achieving the target of 70% electricity generation using renewable sources by 2030.

 Observers see this change of position by the CEBEU as unprecedented, a 180-degree turn from its fierce opposition to renewable electricity and its vigorous campaign for more coal power.

Further, the CEBEU has also agreed to the proposed amendments to the Sri Lanka Electricity Act designed to facilitate the procurement of renewable energy-based electricity without competitive tenders.

 This too has been a subject of a long-running battle between the CEBEU and many governments in the past.

 It was the controversial Yugadanavi deal and the GM issue that gave rise to CEBEU’s initial opposition to Ferdinando; it even went the extent of declaring a non-cooperation campaign against him a few months ago.