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Norochcholai stocks run out: Urgent order from S. Africa
View(s):Coals stocks to run the Norochcholai Power Project are sufficient only to generate 600 megawatts of power until September 21.The crisis situation has prompted Lanka Coal Company, a subsidiary of the Ceylon Electricity Board, to work out a deal with Singapore Overseas Enterprises Private Limited. This is to get 1.25 million metric tonnes of coal annually from South Africa. It will be loaded from the port of Richard Bay Coal Terminal there and transferred by barge from the sea direct to the Norochcholai jetty.
The stocks ordered from South Africa are only fifty per cent of the coal required for the Norochocholai power complex. To buy the remaining requirements, the Ministry of Power and Energy is to call for open competitive bidding, an official said yesterday. The call will be to supply a further 1.125 million metric tonnes annually.The coal is required to ensure all three turbines at the power complex remain operational. It was only last week the Sunday Times revealed that the Government would sign a Memorandum of Understanding with China for technical assistance to run the power complex.
The move comes ahead of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to be signed between the CEB and China’s Ministry of Commerce for ‘technical assistance’ for the Norochcholai plant. The MoU will be signed during President Xi Jingping’s state visit to Sri Lanka later this month.