Sri Lanka Ceramic Council calls for strengthening partnerships to face challenges

• To be renamed Sri Lanka Ceramic and Glass Council

By Devin Jayasundera

Lanka Walltiles Limited Managing Director Mahendra Jayasekera was appointed as the President at the Annual General Meeting of the Sri Lanka Ceramic Council recently.

At the event it was decided that the glass manufacturing industry would also be inculcated into the scope of the council and therefore the council would be renamed as the Sri Lanka Ceramic and Glass Council.

Speaking at the event, the new President professed that the highly prosperous era of the industry, which ranged from the 1970s to the mid 2000s, was no more. “Today the industry is in a challenging state due to numerous factors, ranging from high cost of energy, mining issues, the China factor and the recession in key world markets.”

He highlighted that to face these obstacles, the industry should be strengthened through fellowship and interaction among member companies. Jayasekera further stated that this would enable the council to carry out effective lobbying in local government institutions and also to promote R&D to create a growth environment for the industry.

Chief Guest at the event Asian Development Bank (ADB) Country Director Rita O’ Sullivan, recognising the high cost in energy especially in the industrial sector, stated that ADB had shifted its focus from power generation to transmission.

“ADB is handing a grant of US$ 5 million for promoting green energy in five universities, where use of solar panels would be adopted. We are also looking to create awareness in highly-evolving technologies such as biomass and wind.”

She also stressed on the need for the development of skills in the industrial sector: “There should be more emphasis in technical education starting from school level to vocational training and ADB is currently running some programmes in collaboration with the public and private sector to uplift the technical and vocational education to supply the demand for industries.”

The Guest Speaker at the event, Dr. Tilak Siyambalapitiya, gave a presentation on ‘Challenging the Energy Costs,’ where he explained the rights of the user to challenge the cost and price of energy.

“There’s nothing but confusion in the pricing structure of electricity, gas and petroleum. This is due to ad hoc and irresponsible behaviour of the authorities,” stated Siyambalapitiya. He noted that the customer was not aware of the calculated cost.

“The cost of electricity has always been declining in real terms even though certain price hikes are needed in the short-term, especially during drought or when power plants are not in function. However, in current terms, due to the depreciation of the rupee, costs will rise.”

He stated that the price structure of electricity was highly complex and even some engineers were not in a position to understand it. He illustrated a Singaporean example of a price structure and stressed on the need to simplify the cost structure so the long-term benefit of the declining cost in energy would eventually be passed on to the consumer.

Pic by Krishan Shashika