Those who really saved country from a power crisis

I served in the Ministry for Power and Energy, including the Ministry for Mahaweli Development, for two decades or more, and a recent news item in your newspaper caught my eye. It reads: “Minister of Power Dullas Alahapperuma said yesterday, Sri Lanka would have faced a minimum of, 16-hour power cuts on a daily basis if not for the visionary initiatives of the late President J. R. Jayewardene and the late Gamini Dissanayake to implement the Mahaweli Development Project and Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s bold decision to launch the coal power plant complex at Norochcholai. Irrespective of political differences, correct decisions taken with regard to the power sector should be praised.”

I would like to inform the present Minister for Power, Dullas Alahapperuma, and The Island readers of the real facts which the minister may not be aware of, and to give credit to those who deserve it.

It is true the Mahaweli Development Project commenced without any controversy, but the Norochcholai Coal Power Complex has a sad history; the then Bishop of Chilaw objected its construction as he felt it would affect the holy shrine of St Anne’s at Talawila – 13 Km away. This unfounded objection delayed the commissioning of this plant as scheduled in 2000, and went on to year 2004, after we faced a severe power cut of nearly six-hours a day. All this was due to lack of political will to carry out this work in the national interest.

The situation was so bad that The Island (20 May 2004), editorially lashed out at all governments prior to 2000: “The power crisis which is defying solutions, certainly needs the personal attention of the President herself. There are oil lobbies, coal lobbies or religions and multimillion-dollar commissions involved. In this process some people involved are bound to cry ‘foul’ as it always happens when such decisions are taken. A strong political leader has to take responsibility and make that decision. If they cannot, they are not national leaders”.

The engineers of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) carried out a very effective campaign to educate the masses; they organised seminars and panel discussions in the electronic media. The most effective and convincing seminar was conducted by the Electrical Division of the Institute of Engineers Sri Lanka, organised by Eng. B. R. O. Fernando, where the Chief Guest was the then Minister of Power Karu Jayasuriya. This seminar was well attended by all sectors, Industrial, commercial, domestic consumers, where eminent electrical engineers addressed the gathering, Surprisingly and sad to say Karu Jayasuriya, went back and wrote to say that as a matter of policy this project is disallowed.

The policy as it would appear was not to displease the Catholic voter and not national interest. If the project commenced as scheduled, the CEB would have called for worldwide tenders and the best selected, but due to this delay the government had to depend on China who came up with a proposal to fund and construct. They funded, used the funds to employ their own men, materials, and machinery, virtually paid themselves the funds leaving the Sri Lanka government to pay back the loan with interest. Today, we are saddled with an ‘Always Break-down’ plant. This started the rot in the CEB, resorting to power purchase from the private sector with corrupt deals.

Soon after the defeat of the government, mainly on this ground, the new government, under Mahinda Rajapaksa, faced the same problem, and the then Minister of Power and Energy Susil Premaayantha, was pressurred or goaded by the CEB Engineers and consultants to a point that he had no alternative, and against party politics and wish, he threatened to resign unless the Cabinet approved his proposal. Hence it is seen the credit for the construction of Norochcholai Coal Power Complex should go to the engineers of the CEB, who pushed the Minister to a point of no return, and not any political party or individual.

Minister Alahapperuma has been quoted in The Island news items under discussion as having said that since 2013 after the Norochcholai power plants One and Two, no major or stable power plant have been added to the grid.” Here again is political interference delaying the construction of the LNG plant at Kerawalapitiya, which should have come into operation about four years ago. For the information of the present Minister for Power, tenders were called for this project and the lowest tenderer was awarded the tender, but the Ministry intervened, and wanted the tender to be awarded to a next higher Chinese bidder, and as several appeals from the lowest tenderer went unheeded, the lowest tenderer, a local company, had to seek legal remedy. Fortunately, with the change of government, under the present Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, this has been sorted out by awarding the construction to the lowest tenderer as recommended by the Tender Board and work inaugurated a few weeks back, while the culprits who delayed this project for reasons left to be guessed are protected.

It is heartening to note the present Minister for Power, Alahapperuma, is taking meaningful steps to right the wrongs of former governments, and steer the CEB to an efficient financially viable state institution, as it was before 1990, where the CEB ran as a profitable venture. Towards this end, all concerned, CEB employees, PUCSL and the consumers should extend support and most importantly ward off foreign interventions in this vital sector.

G .A. D. SIRIMAL

Boralesgamuwa