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Sampur : Power Ministry Secretary denies former minister’s claims
View(s):A Ministry Secretary has chided his former minister for not raising issues over technical details relating to the US$ 500 million (Rs. 65 billion) Sampur Coal fired power project.
M.M.C. Ferdinando, Secretary to the Ministry of Power and Energy, has said the former Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka “being an electrical engineer by profession” did not raise the issue of excessive heat rate or operation and maintenance of the power plant.
Minister Ranawaka in a four-page report on the joint Indo-Lanka Power Project, recommended by his successor Pavithra Wanniaarachchi, raised a series of objections to the project. He noted that though the feasibility study report of the project said the heat rate of the power plant at efficiency was 40 per cent, according to the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) submitted to the Cabinet, the rate at efficiency was only 33 per cent. He said the loss caused to the country would be Rs 2.6 billion a year.
Mr. Ranawaka also said the agreement proposed to pay a much higher operations and maintenance fee than the Ceylon Electricity Board expected and the loss to the country would be Rs. 4. 1 billion annually.
However, Secretary Ferdinando contested the claim saying that Minister Ranawaka had not raised the issue previously and various committees had studied the issues. Mr. Ferdinando who also served in the same capacity during the tenure of Minister Ranawaka claimed that Mr. Ranawaka’s assertion that the CEB would suffer Operation and Maintenance losses was incorrect.
Minister Ranawaka also pointed out that according to the signed Memorandum of Understanding, other power plants could not be established in Trincomalee without the concurrence of India. He said it would be a disadvantage to Sri Lanka as the Government had already granted approval to set up a 500 Mw merchant power plant on a commercial basis.But Mr Ferdinando said the Government could negotiate for any other project with another party outside the project boundary of 500 acres in Sampur.
Meanwhile the signing of agreement for the Sampur project between the CEB and the Indian National Thermal Power Company (NTPC) has been further delayed. Minister Wanniarachchi told the Sunday Times yesterday that Mr. Ferdinando had visited India recently and moves were underway to amend the power-purchasing agreement. She said the new agreement would be forwarded to the Attorney General for advice.
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