News
Powerline dispute ends with estate owners foregoing compensation
View(s):By Niranjala Ariyawansha
The controversy over the laying of a power transmission line across a private tea estate at Siripagama in Ratnapura ended on Friday, but the project has been delayed by a year, CEB officials said.
The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) mediated on Friday to settle the long-standing conflict between the owners of the land and the CEB.
At Friday’s meeting, the estate owners dropped their demand for compensation and gave approval to draw the cables over the land, the officials said.
The estate owners initially demanded Rs. 44 million as compensation. On Friday, they brought it down to Rs. 9 million and later to Rs. 6 million. However, the CEB and the PUCSL requested that the landowners explain how they arrived at the figure.
Based on the Asian Development Bank guidelines, the Government Valuer had estimated Rs. 1.6 million in compensation. Eventually, the landowners decided to settle the dispute without accepting any compensation.
The powerline was part of an ADB project launched seven years ago to transmit power to the Southern Province through Polpitiya-Hambantota. The project is being carried out by a Chinese company, but the CEB has been tasked with the responsibility of paying compensation to the public who would be affected by it.
The ADB had informed the CEB to pay the estate owners the compensation demanded by them. However, the CEB rejected this request since it would be an injustice to other compensation recipients.
The project was to have been completed at the end of 2021, but due to the dispute, it was delayed by one year, the official said.
“We cannot treat these landowners in a special way. If the large amount they have estimated is paid to them, it will mean a huge injustice to the other people who accepted the government valuation,” the official said.
Meanwhile the estate owners, Dr. Uthpala Attygalle and family, defended the stance taken by them. In a statement, the family said:
“This project is funded by the ADB, and as such is required to adhere to the applicable policies that come under the Environmental and Social-safeguards Framework (ESF). These are applicable to all international development partner-funded projects implemented in any country. ESF policies aim to prevent and mitigate undue harm to people and their environment in the development process, to compensate affected people and to restore livelihoods to at least the level prior to development intervention.
“However, in this case, such policies have not been given due consideration and periodically violated. The general public is also not well informed of the regulations that govern such development projects and most importantly of the rights of general citizens who are affected by the implementation of such foreign-funded projects. A fundamental principle guiding any development project is to minimize damage to affected parties.
“We as a family decided to take a stand and raise our concerns against the arbitrary disregard of the ESF policies during the implementation of this project. We have continuously asked for justice since 2018 and the application of ESF principles. In this case, however, the authorities were unable to resolve the matter according to due process and dragged this issue for a long period of time.
“In the current context, these actions have inconvenienced the public due to the present power crisis. At the recent meeting, we realized that the final value of the compensation was not determined and it would take more time to arrive at a decision and delaying this issue due to an unknown reason. Continuation of this will worsen the crisis situation at present and therefore we decided to sacrifice our due benefits for the betterment of the general public. Hence, considering the current crisis, we have decided to forgo our right to compensation, and we have provided our consent for the implementation of the project.”
(See the full statement in
sundaytimes.lk)
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