Tuesday Sep 24, 2024
Tuesday Sep 24, 2024
Monday, 23 March 2015 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The NPC-appointed Expert Committee
The announcement that regional groundwater in and around Chunnakam in Jaffna does not contain dangerous pollutants was a great relief to the public and is a major positive step, according to MTD Walkers Plc – the parent company of the Northern Power Plant of Chunnakam.
“The announcement by the Expert Committee appointed by the Northern Provincial Council to study the water contamination issue in Jaffna, that there were no dangerous septic pollutants in the groundwater, is a major relief to the people of the Northern Province,” MTD Walkers Plc Director/CEO Lal Perera said. 
The announcement was made public by the four-member Expert Committee comprising Dr. K. Velayathamoorthy from the Department of Chemistry of the University of Jaffna, Dr. Nalina Gnanavelraja from the Faculty of Agriculture, Dr. A. Athputharajah, Head of the Faculty of Engineering and Dr. T. Jeyasingham from the Eastern University, on 20 March in Jaffna.
The company has maintained throughout that Northern Power Co Ltd., the powerhouse of Northern Sri Lanka, is not in any way linked to the issue of groundwater contamination in Jaffna as proved by available scientific evidence and stated that such baseless allegations had been fuelled by parties with vested interests.
“We are very much optimistic that further investigations will vindicate all baseless accusations raised against us. When we ventured into Jaffna in 2007 during the height of the war our main objective was to serve the electricity needs of the North in general and Jaffna in particular. As Northern Power Company Ltd, we deny outright these baseless charges raised by parties with vested interests and not a single allegation has been so far accepted by the courts or by any Government authority. As all evidence presented in court points directly to another location as being the source of contamination, the company is not in any way liable for the said situation,” Perera said.
He pointed out that baseless allegations had been raised with the ulterior motive of misleading the people of Jaffna against the Northern Power Company Ltd., falsely claiming that the power plant located at Chunnakkam (Jaffna) was polluting several wells located two to three kilometres away from the plant.
Northern Power Co. commenced construction work of the power plant in 2007 during the height of the civil conflict.
Power generation commenced around May 2009 and a large population which had suffered severe hardship for over 15 years had electricity in their homes.
Major power contributor
“We were the company at that time that contributed a major amount of power as there was no other source and Jaffna was not connected to the national grid till almost 2012. The company went through many hardships especially with no road transport facility being available, forcing us to transport all material and personnel by air or sea at a very high cost. But we did it because serving the people is in the DNA of MTD Walkers,” he added.
The power plant is operated with all necessary environmental licenses and approvals in place which is issued on an annual basis with quarterly checks carried out based out on the conditions required by the licensing authorities.
“Unfortunately, the allegation is that the waste oil from the plant is being discharged to the ground and that this was causing the pollution of wells that are located so many kilometres away. We wish to state clearly that all our waste oil is collected in overhead tanks, sold and taken away by third parties and absolutely nothing is discharged to the ground. Waste oil fetches a good price as it is used for firing furnaces as the company makes revenue from its sale and will not be deprived of the revenue by discharging it to the ground. If we can earn extra profits by selling waste oil, why would a commercial venture such as ours throw away valuable oil?” Perera said.
It was also highlighted that due to the simple fact that Jaffna has been connected to the national grid, the power plant is being used mostly during the peak loading times and as such, with the power plant operating only for few hours, there would not be waste oil volumes significant enough to affect wells three kilometres away.
A large oil lake existed within the previous State-run power plant premises before Northern Power commenced operations. This lake contained a large amount of oil which were visible even on Google Maps images taken over a period of time and had been presented in court as well. Subsequently, around 2012, the area was filled with earth and compacted, as a new substation was built on this premises. However, to date no one has questioned or investigated what happened to the large quantity of oil that was contained in this oil lake.
“We are strongly of the opinion that there is an unseen hand that is misleading the public of the area with some ulterior motive unknown to us to hinder our operation that is being carried out, meeting all the procedural and statutory requirements mandated by the laws of Sri Lanka. The people of Jaffna have benefited tremendously from the Chunnakkam Power Plant and they must think wisely that any hindrance to the smooth operation of the power plant will affect the electricity supply and adversely impact the activities of the North. People should not be misled by these baseless allegations.”
The company hailed the Government for appointing a committee comprised of academics of two renowned institutions – the University of Peradeniya and the University of Jaffna - who have already inspected the premises of the Power Plant and so far found evidence of the allegations raised.
“We wish to reassert that the Northern Power Company Ltd., along with its parent company MTD Walkers Plc, is always committed towards working in the interest of all stakeholders while maintaining the highest standards of corporate ethics and good governance,” he added.
