CEB mafia submits another document to purchase power from private parties

COLOMBO (News 1st) - Although finding solutions to the electricity crisis is of national importance, the Ceylon Electricity Board and the mafia associated use the public as bait to fulfill their personal agendas. A document that was submitted to the Board of Directors of the CEB last Wednesday(March 06), is yet another example of the electricity mafia in Sri Lanka. This document, as in the past, creates a false scarcity of electricity. In order to meet the growing demand, the respective document proposes that power be purchased from the private sector. The document also requests board approval to extend two expired Power Purchase Agreements with two private sector companies. Last year (2018), the CEB attempted to extend another expired PPA, by submitting a similar document. Despite their efforts, the CEB only succeeded in extending the PPA agreement with a private company that owned a power plant in Embilipitiya. However, this extension is categorized as a fraudulent transaction that could be challenged by law. Even though the CEB failed to extend the PPA agreements with these two private sector companies, the country did not face any power cuts. The document also reveals that there will be a shortfall in electricity generation of 200 megawatts in the future. If the CEB predicts such a shortfall in generation, a proposal to call for tenders and purchase electricity at the most competitive price, should be submitted. However, this document issued by the respective subject ministry shows the need to renew agreements which were established with good friends. The secretary of the subject ministry addressed this document to the chairman of the CEB on June 15th 2017, inquiring reasons for the delay in implementing the national long term power generation plan. Under the proposed plan, the CEB was to construct thirteen low-cost power plants. If the plan was implemented as scheduled, the construction of five power plants would have been completed and would have contributed to the power production of the country. Sri Lanka has lost approximately 225 megawatts as a result of the failure to construct these five power plants, which was mainly due to the manipulative actions of the CEB. Through this document, the CEB depicts its requirement to fulfil an electricity scarcity of 200 megawatts. The CEB states that the main reasons for this scarcity are the adverse climate conditions and anomalies in transmission systems. However, it must be noted that anomalies in transmission systems do not impact electricity shortages. There is a possibility that the requirement to purchase electricity from the private sector will be submitted to the cabinet in the near future. This will allow the CEB to purchase electricity from the private sector without having to call for any tenders. The relevant officials should raise their concerns regarding this matter.

---