By Ifham Nizam
The delay in commissioning the Upper Kotmale Power Plant – the last of the hydro power projects - would not have had a huge impact due to there being no rain in the reason past Power and Energy Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka said.
However, the amount that would have been saved if the plant was commissioned in January, this year, would be calculated shortly, he said.
Ranawaka told The Island yesterday that the delay was chiefly due to a few people in some locations holding protests while some residents refused to abandon their native place.
He said that in some locations they had to alter plans due to the protests by the residents.
However, some officials are of the opinion that the country could have saved millions of rupees if the project had kick started as planned.
The feasibility study for the project was conducted in the mid 1980s and construction commenced in 2005.
The concepts in the master plan were further studied between 1985 and 1987 when the Japanese Government funded a feasibility study to examine hydro power options in the upper reaches of the Kotmale Oya.
Five sites and eight alternate development schemes were examined in the feasibility study and the report concluded that the development of two sites were technically and economically feasible.
The two sites were a reservoir type development at Caledonia and a run of river project at Talawakelle. The project at Caledonia involved the displacement of 2,700 families and inundation of large area of tea land.
The total cost of the project is Rs. 44 billion. The Sri Lankan Government provided Rs. 10 billion and the Japanese Government Rs. 34 billion.
On average, the country used more than 9,000 million units of power. It is estimated that this number will go up to 9,600 million soon.
The Upper Kotmale Project will provide five per cent of the country’s energy needs. It annually provides 409 GW hours of electricity.
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=48704
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