By May 26 afternoon, power has been restored to about 425,000 customers.

From May 21 to 26, 26,700 breakdowns have been fixed, the CEB said.

“CEB management and staff are working around the clock to restore power to all affected consumer,” a CEB statement said.

The CEB had received around 61,000 breakdown complaints and new ones still coming in.

Separately the CEB’s Engineers Union said unfilled vacancies and abolishing some maintenance engineering positions had led to delays in restoring power and could in the future also affect safety and customer service levels. (Colombo/May26/2024)

Despite electricity being declared an essential service, vacancies have not been filled, the CEB Engineers Union said.

“In this already challenging situation, the Acting General Manager of CEB issued a circular on May 21, 2024, abolishing several essential service positions, including the Maintenance Electrical Engineer in the Area Engineer Offices, Construction Units, and Distribution Maintenance Units,” the Union said.

“This decision, made without any scientific basis, significantly reduces our capacity to provide adequate services to the public during this emergency.

“On behalf of all the staff of CEB, we express our deep regret for the inconvenience caused to our valued customers.”

High winds had rains have brought down trees across power lines and transformers, the statement said.

In the past few day over 300,000 power outages have been reported nationwide, with some areas experiencing over 30,000 outages within an hour.

“Our limited technical staff at the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) are making extraordinary efforts to restore power as quickly as possible,” the union said.

“We deeply regret that due to the high volume of calls, there are times when we are unable to respond to all customer inquiries.

“We kindly ask consumers to support our restoration teams and to report any fallen live electrical wires or devices to the Electricity Board immediately without attempting to handle them.

The union said there were not enough workers to restore power quickly when such a large volume of breakdowns happens.

“We want to clarify that the additional groups mentioned by the minister have not yet been received by the CEB,” the union said.

“Despite the government’s designation of electricity as an essential service, neither the government, the minister in charge, nor the CEB board of directors have taken adequate steps to fill the relevant vacancies or retain current employees.

“We believe they should be held directly responsible for the delays in addressing the power outages due to the shortage of staff.”

Sri Lanka is expecting to connect large volumes solar and wind power between 2024-2030 to meet a 70 percent renewable electricity target, but due to variability of wind and solar (non-firm energy), the system stability is undermined.

As a result, the power grid has to be able to absorb the shocks from non-firm energy.

Battery energy systems storage (BESS) is one of the solutions identified in a long-term generation plan, the statement said.

A committee appointed to study the issue had recommended building battery banks.

The cabinet had approved the development of battery storage system as public private partnerships or private projects. (Colombo/May24/2025)

“Additional service staff has been assigned to attend the breakdowns and the CEB management & service staff are working 24 hours to restore power to the affected consumers,” Minister of Power and Energy, Kanchana Wijesekera said on social media platform X (twitter).

Wijesekera said consumers could report power interruptions through the CEB hotline 1987, via SMS to 1987 with BD and the electricity consumer number to follow, or use the CEB Care app, or through http://cebcare.ceb.lk.

The South-East monsoon has seen floods, landslides and strong winds do damage to the utility provider’s infrastructure in the last week. (Colombo/May23?2024)

A technical evaluation of three companies which had submitted bids had been completed according to information coming to him, Hashim told parliament Wednesday.

“The financial bids were due to be opened on May 17 based on information we are receiving,” Hashim said.

“But due to pressure from certain officials we are learning that there is an attempt to cancel the financial bid. I am asking why the bid was not opened on May 17.

“We learn that the Sustainable Energy Authority Chairman and officials have engaged in a big operation to stop this. I do not know who these people are representing.”

“This is something that is required for the country. We believe the wind power unit could be purchased at a price below 6.0 cents t under competitive tender.

“This tender has been blocked to stop this. So, blocking this is big problem.”

Hashim said he was demanding an answer.

“I do not know whether some corrupt officials are connected to some companies and acting on behalf of these companies (kade yanawader danney ne). I am asking the chairman of the Committee on Public Finance, Harsha de Silva, to summon the officials and ask them to open the bids.”

Hashim said he had urged Sri Lanka authorities in parliament itself on earlier occasions not to agree on a power purchase price for a 484MW plant by India’s Adani group which came without tender until competitive bids for the smaller Mannar plant were opened.

Related Sri Lanka to buy wind power from Adani for 8.26 US cents

The energy ministry said Adani would be paid 8.26 cents per unit for its Mannar and Pooneryn plant project for 484 MegaWatts.

India’s Adani project has come as a government-to-government project, by passing tender, officials said.

CEB’s own plant in Mannar, built before an economic crisis with Asian Development Bank funds, was estimated to have a levelized cost of only 4.2 US cents over its lifetime.

But at commercial rates of borrowing, a profitable project could be run at around 6.0 US cents, according to industry analysts.

Mannar in particular is an area with high winds.

The CEB’s old wind farm with a shorter height has experienced an actual plant factor of 44 percent last year, according to sources with knowledge of the matter. (Colombo/May22/2024)

“The program will focus on attracting investments in the renewable energy sector, accelerating energy transition, green hydrogen programs & scaling up private investments,” Wijesekera said on social media platform X (twitter).

“Energy & Financial experts from development agencies, industry stakeholders & officials from the line ministries will be participating at the event.”

The roundtable will be held on May 29.

The preliminary discussion on the event was held with the World Bank team at the Ministry of Power and Energy, the minister said.

A forex crisis two years ago saw the island nation face fuel shortages and power cuts in the face of a lack of renewable energy sources.

The state-run power utility, the Ceylon Electricity Board, has said it hopes to increase renewable energy sources to 70 percent of its energy generation mix by 2030, and reduce dependency on fossil fuels.

This will require the addition of considerable generating capacity from renewable energy sources such as solar and wind during the next 6 years. A large component of its present renewable energy sources is hydro – major and mini.
(Colombo/May20/2024)

Related story
Sri Lanka looks for $11.26 bln investment to achieve renewable energy targets – CEB GM

Sri Lanka has set ambitious goals for renewable electricity generation by 2030, apparently without much prior study or any costs being revealed when the target was set by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Rohan Pethiyagoda, a taxonomist and researcher who had also been senior state officials involved in policy at one time said overall Sri Lanka used a large volume of biomass (firewood) for cooking.

“We need to recognize, of course, that about 60 percent of Sri Lankan households still use firewood as their primary fuel,” Pethiyagoda told a climate forum organized by Sri Lanka’s Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.

“Bless them, because they reduce our dependence on fossil fuels for cooking. Even the tea industry, one of our largest exports, uses biomass as its primary fuel for about 90 percent of its production.”

In the electricity sector, where the renewable lobby and other activists oppose coal on the basis of carbon emissions based on international trends, as well as dust, base load still has to be generated if thermal generators are replaced.

Solar power is available only for a few hours in daytime and it can also vary depending on cloud cover.

Hydro power (run of the river plants) is more stable but is dependent on rain. Large hydros with storage can be used for peaks, industry analysts say.

Wind is available throughout the day but can also be unstable. The problem of variability (non-firm energy) can be solved to some extent through ramping and battery storage at additional cost, analysts say.

A renewable plant in Poonakary with battery storage was priced at around 48 to 49 rupees (about 15 US cents) based on public statements.

Meanwhile Pethiyagoda said Sri Lanka’s weather patterns created an additional problem.

“We have this unusual thing for our renewable energy in Sri Lanka, that at the tail end of the northeast monsoon, from about December to April, we have a dry period in this country, which means that our hydro potential during those months goes down,” Pethiyagoda said.

“Now, as luck would have it, our wind potential goes down at the same time.”

As a result, Sri Lanka needs a reliable alternative to the current coal baseload.

“So for that reason especially, we need to look at either connecting to India’s grid in the long term or having a nuclear facility in Sri Lanka if we want to be low carbon. And of course, we need to replace our vehicle fleet.”

“And our base load can probably come from nuclear,” Pethiyagoda said.

“But whichever way we do it, the cheaper way would be for us to connect to India’s grid.

“Whichever way we do it, we’re looking at an investment of about 40 billion dollars. And then we have the problem of looking at how wind and solar will behave.”

It was not clear what the 40 billion dollar investments would be made up of.

Sri Lanka’s external debt as at December 2024, including unpaid principal after default was 37.3 billion US dollars.

In 2021 when the 70 percent target was unveiled in President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s election manifesto power engineers said a 53 percent energy share planned for 2030 in a general plan at the time was was equal to that of Germany.

Pushing up the share to 70 percent would require billions of dollars of extra investments, they said.

Related

Sri Lanka generation plan renewable power share for 2030 equal to Germany: CEB engineers

After the central bank cut rates and triggered an external default however, Sri Lanka growth, and power demand in the next few years is expected to be lower than before extreme macro-economic policy.

Related Sri Lanka to invest US$11bn by 2030 to meet renewable target

In 2023, the CEB said about 11 billion US dollars would be needed to meet the 70 percent target. (Colombo/June19/2024)

The rupee also appreciated in the quarter which keeps imported fuel prices low.

As a standalone entity, the Ceylon Electricity Board, made profits of 84.6 billion rupees in the March quarter.

CEB’s revenues rose 38.5 percent to 167 billion rupees in the March 2024 quarter, while cost of sales fell 26.1 percent to 105.0 billion rupees giving gross profits of 62.7 billion rupees.

The CEB also reported 30.6 billion rupees of other incomes and gains in the March quarter, up from 3.1 billion rupees last year.

Other Income and Gains

The utility said it made a 25.9 billion rupee capital gain from transferring LTL Holdings shares to West Coast Power an IPP in which other entities have a majority holding.

In the quarter the rupee also appreciated.

A rupee appreciation will help reduce the carrying cost of dollar loans and also reduce the cost of imported thermal fuels and maintenance costs of spares.

The central bank allowed Sri Lanka’s exchange rate to appreciate from 324.40 rupees in December 2023 to 300.17 on March 2024 amid deflationary policy and weak private credit allowing imported fuel costs also to fall.

Especially after 1978, after rate cuts drove the country into balance of payments crises, the central bank had collected reserves with free market interest rates, but has not usually allowed the exchange rate to re-appreciate despite generating a BOP surplus with deflationary policy.

Un-anchored Bad Money

Before 1978, when an apparently doctrinally foxed International Monetary Fund abandoned both external and specie anchors simultaneously after the Fed closed its gold window triggering the Great Inflation period, Sri Lanka also did not depreciate its currency, analysts have pointed out.

Related Why the IMF is hated now and is backing bad money in Sri Lanka and Latin America

Since it was set up in 1951, the central bank has printed money under various dual anchor conflicting Saltwater-Cambridge ideologies (re-financing rural credit, sterilizing outflows, potential output targeting, yield curve targeting) to create forex shortages and currency crises and started to go the IMF from the mid-1960s.

From 1978, after the IMF’s second amendment to its Articles denied the central bank a credible external and domestic anchor simultaneously, the currency stated to depreciate steeply.

The government was therefore unable to balance its budget and state enterprises were also unable to balance their budgets running large losses whenever the rupee fell and energy prices went up.

After abandoning its external and specie anchor the central bank followed a anchor conflicting regime involving money supply targeting without a floating exchange rate in the 1980s.

The ideology was rejected in toto by Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand and China.

Since the end of a civil war macro-economists have followed inflation targeting without a floating exchange combined with extreme macro-economic policy to target potential output, eventually driving the country into external default.

Budgets went haywire in the early 1980s as the rupee fell, despite then President JR Jayawardene cutting subsidies and ending price controls (administered prices) two years earlier, in reforms that Singapore’s economic architect and one-time Finance Minister Goh Keng Swee said were “economic reforms which most people had considered politically impossible.”

Goh who set up a currency board in Singapore rejecting Cambridge-Saltwater ideology, warned JR not to destroy the rupee.

“Exchange rate policies involve many complicated technical issues which I do want to discuss here,” he said.

“On balance, the disadvantage of a depreciating rupee will, I believe, outweigh the advantages. Most of the products whose prices are administered are ether wholly imported or contain a high import content. About a quarter of rice consumption is imported.

“All wheat from which four and bread are produced is imported. The same holds true of kerosene and milk powder.

“Bus fares ware largely determined by the rupee price of imported oil and spare parts. Fertilizers are also mostly imported.”

At the time Sri Lanka had hydro-electricity.

Capital Injections

Some of the CEB’s dollar loans were been taken over by the central government after the steepest currency collapse in the history of the central bank in 2022 and external default.

The CEB’s contributed capital as at end March 2024 was 991.4 billion rupees up from 865.1 billion rupees.

With the March quarter profits with some financial engineering involving the asset sale and the government equity injection, the CEB’s group accumulated losses reduced to 456 billion rupees from 575 billion rupees.

The CEB ran large losses as the regulator failed to raise tariffs as macro-economists printed money to target potential output over the past decade.

From 2011 to 2022 the rupee fell from 113 to 370 to the US dollars as the central bank ran un-anchored monetary policy the regulator only raised prices in 2022.

Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera said the last price cut was also made possible due to rupee appreciation.

With no potential output targeting (no inflationary open market operations), the country has started to recover from the stability that has been provided up to now amid weak private investment credit.

Sri Lanka’s private credit is now starting to recover.

Based on past trends of using statistics instead of classical economic principles (cutting current current interest rates with inflationary open market operations of a money monopoly based on historical inflation rates under ‘data driven monetary policy’ without regard to domestic credit) analysts have warned of a return to monetary instability under potential output targeting. (Colombo/May19/2024)

The sale has been carried out as a transfer.

“Twenty-eight percent (28-pct) of share ownership of CEB within LTL Holding’s equity capital has been transferred to West Coast Power Company Ltd for a total consideration of Rs 26 billion as part of a partial settlement of outstanding dues…” the March interim accounts said.

“This transaction resulted in a net gain of Rs25.9 billion rupees which has been recognized and reflected in the ‘Gain from Share Disposal’ in the individual financial statement in CEB.”

LTL Holdings is a former transformer making unit of the CEB set up with ABB where the foreign holding was sold to its management.

The firm has since set up several IPPs.

West Coast Power operates a 300MW combined cycle IPP in Kerawalapitiya promoted by LTL group liked firms in which both the Treasury and Employees Provident Fund also have shares.

Its operational and maintenance contract is with Lakdhanavi, another private IPP. The firm has been paying dividends.

The capital gain from the transfer of shares helped the CEB post profits to 84 billion rupees for the March 2024 quarter.

CEB reported gross profits of 62.7 billion rupees from energy sales and 30.6 billion rupees in other income and gains in the March 2024 quarter. Other income was only 3.1 billion rupees in last year. (Colombo/May18/2024)

Floating solar plants, depending on how much of the area it covers, can reduce sunlight and plant growth in waterbodies, reducing food for fish and other organisms.

“We urge the authorities to consider these risks and explore alternative locations or methods for the solar power project that would not compromise the health and livelihoods of the local communities,” Monlar Media, a civil society organization that promotes farmer rights said.

The coalition of organizations, including the Walawa Farmers Rights Protection Organization, said they do not oppose the development of solar power plants in principle, but they have grave concerns about the potential threats to their livelihoods posed by the construction of these plants on the two reservoirs.

Maintaining the water levels necessary for the floating solar power plants could jeopardize the water supply required for their crops. “This poses a significant risk to agricultural productivity and the local economy,” the farmers were quoted in a statement.

More than 75,000 hectares of cultivated land rely on these lakes for nourishment, and nearly 45,000 residents depend on the lakes for their drinking water. Another 400 individuals are engaged in the mining industry around these water bodies, they said.

They also raised environmental and health concerns warning that the materials used in constructing the solar power system could degrade over time due to sunlight exposure and leach into the lake water.

The two floating solar pilot projects are implemented with the financial and technical assistance of the Republic of Korea in partnership with the Ministry of Power and Energy, and The Sustainable Energy Authority.

The two projects, which are nearing completion, of 1MW each are constructed with a financial grant from The Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology of Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and implemented with the technical assistance and construction by Yooshing Engineering (Pvt) Ltd, Bosung Powertec Co Ltd and Scotra Company Ltd.

The two projects commenced in 2023 and are scheduled to be competed by July 2024. (Colombo/May17/2024)

So-called ‘wheeling’ was not allowed in Sri Lanka and a company that built a power plant had to sell the power to the Ceylon Electricity Board at the feed in price and buy power separately at as a customer at a retail tariff.

Wheeling allows customer to carry the power from a new renewable plant by paying a fee to the transmission network.

“For example if a mini-hydro plant is built in Kithulgala, the power can be carried through the grid for the use of a factory is Ja-Ela as long it is also owned by the same party for his own use,” Minister Gunawardana said.

A committee was appointed to conduct a detailed study and the recommendation was made he said. (Colombo/May15/2024)

Sabry met Saudi Arabian Economy, Investment, and Foreign Ministers when he visited Riyadh last week to participate in the World Economic Forum.

“Saudi Arabia has agreed to invest in Sri Lanka. We expect a huge investment from Saudi Arabia. They are in the process of diversifying their oil-based economy. Accordingly, they are now investing in other countries,” Sabry told reporters at a media briefing in Colombo on Wednesday (08).

“We are in discussion with them for projects at least one or two big projects. We hope to finish negotiations by end of this year. When we get one or two projects, others from that country will follow,” he said.

“They are mainly interested in renewable energy, specially solar power, wind power, and green hydrogen,”

“We are in discussion with relevant institutions. They have a firm called ACWA Power. It is one of the largest investor in other countries.”

He said such renewable energy project will help to generate excess electricity once Sri Lanka connect the grid with India.

ACWA Power is a developer, investor, and operator of power generation and desalinated water plants, with 82 assets in operation, construction, or advanced development across 13 countries.

With an investment value of $85.7 billion, ACWA Power’s portfolio can generate 55.1 GW of power, the company website showed. (Colombo/May 08/2024)

“Cost have actually come down from last year by around 20 per cent,” Accounts Manager of E B Creasy, Eksath De Silva said.

He was speaking at an event to announce the Construction Power and Energy Conference which will held from July 05 to 07 at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall in Colombo, which the company is supporting.

Organizers are expecting over 170 exhibitors for the event and 14,000 visitors.

Demand for solar power is coming back as the Return on Investment is now higher.

“Returns are significantly good,” De Silva said. “There is a significant increase in demand and there is a significant increase in returns.”

Solar panel prices surged worldwide as the US Fed printed money, with shipping costs also rising.

The US Fed then hiked rates and also started to withdraw excess money, driving down global food, and oil prices. (Colombo/May07/2024)

Trade unions held a demonstration against the bill Thursday April 25 near the parliament complex. Parallel protests were also organised in Galle, Tangalle and Hambantota.

General Secretary of the Ceylon Electrical Workers Union Ranjan Jayalal told reporters at the demonstration that

“This is bill that offers no benefits to CEB workers or to seven million CEB consumers but proposes to split the CEB  to a number of companies and offer them to foreign companies. Even if it is passed, we will defeat it outside parliament,” said Jayalal.

“We will definitely take legal action. It will take six months for the act to become active. In six months, there will be no Ranil or Kanchana or this government,” he said, suggesting that President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Power & Energy Minister Kanchana Wijeskara will no longer be in power by November.

Sri Lanka’s presidential election is due to be held between September 17 and October 18 this year.

“We say to parliament members, if you have a conscience, do not raise your hand in support of this bill,” added Jayalal.

The Attorney General has issued certification to proceed with the new draft bill on electricity sector reforms.

Stakeholders, or any interested individuals, had two weeks to review the gazetted bill, and two more weeks from the day of presenting it to parliament to challenge the bill’s legality.

Once approved by parliament, the new Electricity Act will enable the unbundling of CEB services, restructure CEB, improve efficiency, transparency and accountability and will allow private sector participation across generation, transmission and distribution.

A condition of the Sri Lanka’s ongoing programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is reform of state-owned enterprises, including the CEB. (Colombo/Apr25/2024)

A Cabinet Appointed Procurement Committee and Technical Evaluation Committee are working on the matter.
“There are certain parameters that they are negotiating,” he told reporters in Colombo.

“But I am hopeful that there will be a decision by the Cabinet Appointed Procurement Committee and the TEC and with the Adani group. May be by May we hope to conclude the negotiations.”

The last discussed price for a unit of electricity from the plants to be set up in Mannar and Pooneryn was 8.85 US cents, which was lowered from the original proposal.

Related
Sri Lanka’s Adani wind power price lowered to 8.85 cents: Minister

Indian Adani Group says “vicious campaign” against its Sri Lanka wind project

According to data in an Environmental Impact Assessment the Adani 250MW plant in Mannar would cost 420 million US dollars with 147 million dollars of equity (35 percent) and 273 million (65 percent) in debt.

A 100MW existing wind plant has a levellized cost of 4.6 US cents a unit over its lifetime, according to publicly disclosed data, based on an Asian Development Bank loan for the project.

Mannar has high wind potential giving 40 percent or above plant factor, pushing costs per unit down, according to industry analysts, though following a external default Sri Lanka’s risk premiums have gone up. (Colombo/Apr22/2024)

“The Public will have two weeks from the day of presenting the Bill to the Parliament to challenge its legality in the Supreme Court,” Wijesekera said on X (twitter).

Amendments suggested by the stakeholders in January have been drafted in to the revised Bill, the minister said.

Link for the Sri Lanka Electricity Bill – http://documents.gov.lk/en/bills.php

Sri Lanka’s Cabinet approved a proposal to restructure the CEB; under the plan the CEB will be split into eight separate companies.

The CEB consists of around 26,000 workers when the enterprise needs only around 50 percent of it, Wijesekera has said earlier. A voluntary retirement plan also will be offered.

The government wants to reform or privatize state enterprises after the country ended up in sovereign default after several years of money printing and currency depreciation.

A condition of the IMF program is reform of state-owned enterprises, including the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB).(Colombo/Feb14/2024)

The announcement on President Raisi’s visit comes two days after Iran launched explosive drones and fired missiles at Israel in its first direct attack on Israeli territory, a retaliatory strike that raised the threat of a wider regional conflict.

“The President is visiting to inaugurate the Omaoya project. He will be on a one-day visit,” an official at Iran embassy in Colombo told EconomyNext.

A Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry official confirmed the move.

This is the first time an Iranian President coming to Sri Lanka Iranian after then President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit in April 2008.

The Omaoya project was originally scheduled to be completed in 2015, but had been delayed several times due to unexpected issued faced during the project cycle and funding issue after the United States imposed economic sanctions on Iran and economic crisis in Sri Lanka.

The project was started in 2010 and the funding was to be received as loan grant from the Iranian government. However, Iran was able to provide $50 million before the sanctions. Sri Lanka has to bear the cost after the sanctions.

The project includes storing water in two reservoirs with dams before being brought through a 23 km tunnel to two turbines located underground and generating hydro power with a capacity of 120 megawatts and added to the national grid.

After power generation, the water is expected to be brought to three reservoirs while supplying water to 20,000 acres of old and new paddy fields in both the Yala and Maha cultivating seasons.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the construction was signed between the two countries in 2007 while Sri Lanka’s Cabinet approved the execution of the contract agreement between the Executing Agency, Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Irrigation and Water Management (MOIWM) of the GOSL and Iran’s FARAB Energy and Water Projects (FC).

When commencing the project on March 15, 2010, the scheduled date of completion of the project was on March 15, 2015. But the schedule completion date was extended to December 31, 2020 due to the unexpected water ingress into the head race tunnel and followed by social impacts.

The trade between the both countries suffered after the US sanctions. However, Sri Lanka inked a deal in December 2021 with Iran to set off export of tea to Iran against a legacy oil credit owed by state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation to the National Iranian Oil Company.

Sri Lanka owes $251 million for crude imported before the US imposed sanctions on Iran. (Colombo/April 15/2024)

The bill will be published in the government gazette this week and presented to parliament in the last week of April, Wijesekera said in a post of the social media platform X.com (twitter).

The electricity reform bill is linked to a 100 million US dollar budget support loan from the Asian Development bank.

The reform bill envisages a splitting Ceylon Electricity Board in to separate entities.

The first bill was revised amid concerns from stakeholders including lenders.

The public will have two weeks from the day it’s presented to the Parliament to challenge the bill, Minister Wijesekera said.

The project was scheduled to be completed in 2015, but had been delayed several times due to unexpected issued faced during the project cycle and funding issue after the United States imposed economic sanctions on Iran and economic crisis in Sri Lanka.

The project was started in 2010 and the funding was to be received as loan grant from the Iranian government. However, Iran was able to provide $50 million before the sanctions. Sri Lanka has to bear the cost after the sanctions.

“President Ranil Wickremesinghe gave instructions to open the Umaoya Multipurpose Development Project at the end of April,” the Irrigation Ministry said quoting Pavithra Vanniarachchi, Minister of Irrigation, Wildlife and Forestry.

The project includes storing water in two reservoirs with dams before being brought through a 23 km tunnel to two turbines located underground and generating hydro power with a capacity of 120 megawatts and added to the national grid.

After power generation, the water is expected to be brought to three reservoirs while supplying water to 20,000 acres of old and new paddy fields in both the Yala and Maha cultivating seasons.

It also expects to fulfill the need of drinking water the people of Badulla and Monaragala districts.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the construction was signed between the two countries in 2007 while Sri Lanka’s Cabinet approved the execution of the contract agreement between the Executing Agency, Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Irrigation and Water Management (MOIWM) of the GOSL and Iran’s FARAB Energy and Water Projects (FC).

When commencing the project on March 15, 2010, the scheduled date of completion of the project was on March 15, 2015. But the schedule completion date was extended to December 31, 2020 due to the unexpected water ingress into the head race tunnel and followed by social impacts. (Colombo/April 08/2024)

“Accordingly the new electricity reforms bill will be gazetted in the next two weeks and presented to the Parliament during the last week of April,” Wijesekera said on social media platform X (twitter.)

A progress review of the electricity sector reforms was held at the Ministry of Power and Energy with officials of the Reforms Secretariat Wijesekera said.

“Suggestions and issues raised by the development agencies and stakeholders were incorporated as amendments to the draft bill that was gazetted in December by the Legal Draftsman’s office and the inconsistencies in the Sinhala and Tamil translations were also fixed.”

Stakeholders, or any interested individuals, will have at least two weeks to review the gazetted bill, and two more weeks from the day of presenting it to Parliament to challenge the bill’s legality.

Once approved by the parliament, the new Electricity Act will enable the unbundling of CEB services, restructure CEB, improve efficiency, transparency and accountability and will allow private sector participation across generation, transmission and distribution.

A condition of the IMF program is reform of state-owned enterprises, including the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB). (Colombo/Mar29/2024)