Ravi pledges no power cuts for Avurudu

• Takes responsibility for power shortage, hopes to resolve it completely by Vesak 
• Power generation has dropped from 4,200MW to just 1,950MW 
• Says legal issues prevented purchase of emergency power  
• New power plants including coal still in pipeline 
• Imported 50 generators mired in corruption scandal says JVP 

Power, Energy and Business Development Minister Ravi Karunanayake promised the Parliament yesterday that there will be no power disruptions during the forthcoming Sinhala and Tamil New Year season and to permanently solve the power crisis before the Vesak festival.

Accepting full responsibility for the prevailing power disruptions, Minister Karunanayake was unwilling to pass the blame onto previous governments.

“It has only been 72 days since I took over the Ministry, but I will take full responsibility for the situation prevailing in the country. There is no point in a blame game. There is no point in stating what happened in the past. This issue will be permanently resolved within two months,” he said.

The Minister, who wanted to set an example for other politicians in Parliament, said: “In management and leadership, there is a philosophy that says you make things happen, you see things happen, and you wonder what happened. Unfortunately, a majority of leaders fall into the last category. Leaders show the way forward and take the blame. That is what I am doing now,” he added.

Due to the adverse weather condition in the country, the power generation capacity has gone down from 4,200MW to 1,950MW, mainly due to the lower water levels in the Mahaweli and Lakshapana reservoirs used to generate hydropower.

Listing some of the issues he is facing which prevent meeting of the daily power requirement of 2,300MW, the Minister said: “Adding more problems, the Lakvijaya coal power plant has encountered issues. On the other hand, there are misunderstandings between the Public Utilities Commission and the Ceylon Electricity Board. So, the electricity crisis is worsening by the day. We have a specific issue that prevails between 6.30 a.m. to 8.30 a.m. and 6.30 p.m. to 9 p.m. on a daily basis. The generation to cater to this peak demand has stopped. The daily electricity demand is 2,300MW. But the maximum generation capacity has gone down to 1,950MW.”

According to Karunanayake, legal issues prevented supplementary power purchases. “Some blame us for delayed power purchases from the private sector. The Parliament has recommended the Secretary of the Ministry to go forward. Our generation target is to reach 12,007MW by 2030. For this, we have plans to establish LNG plants, coal power plants, barge-mounted plants and renewable energy,” explained the Minister, urging officials, workers and politicians to help solve the power crisis in the national interest.

Meanwhile, the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) lawmaker Mahindananda Aluthgamage held only two mini-generators out of 50 purchased for emergency power supply are in use.

According to Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) MP Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa, the deal to purchase the generators had been plagued by serious tender malpractices.

“The generators were brought to Sri Lanka on 18 December 2018. Each generator had to be stored inside a 20-foot container. In addition, there were other facilities that were needed for the generators to function, including a cooling unit, diesel stock tank and a setup-up transformer. The tender had not been awarded to the bidder recommended by the Technical Evaluation Committee, resulting in legal action. While diesel stock tanks were needed for each of the 50 generators, only 25 had been imported, he said. Moreover, the generators were later found to be unsuitable to operate in Sri Lanka and many were discontinued from use by January,” he said, blaming the corrupt officials involved in bringing these generators to the country. (AH)