Kotmale power plant commissioning delayed

By Ifham Nizam

The commissioning of the hydro power electricity plant at Kotmale will be further delayed, according to the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) sources.

The Project Manager, Senior Engineer, Shavindra Fernando earlier said that the commissioning of the Upper Kotmale hydro electricity plant would commence yesterday. The Island exclusively reported that the plant would not be commissioned on March 27.

Power and Energy Ministry officials blamed the Ceylon Electricity Board Engineers’ Union’s ‘non corporation campaign. "Apart from the engineers’ work to rule, the delay was due to a number of technical issues," an official said.

A senior ministry official said that the project would be completed in May at the rate the work was progressing.

Last week Fernando told The Island that the plant would be commissioned on March 27 as was reported earlier. The senior engineer, when asked whether the commissioning would be delayed, said: "Ask those who say that!" When contacted for comment yesterday, he said he was at a meeting.

The new hydro power project at Upper Kotmale is expected to add 150 MW of power to the national grid. A Japan-Sri Lanka combined project, it is expected to give a boost to the CEB which is increasingly dependent on costly thermal power.

Power and Energy Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka told The Island recently that steps would be taken to speed up the commissioning of the new project.

The CEB was expected to increase the country’s total hydro electricity generation from 1,207.45 MW to 1,357.45 MW.

The water for the new power project is supplied from the Kotmale Oya through a 13-kilometre-long tunnel with a 5.9-metre diameter to Niyamgamdora.

Nearly 495 families who were affected due to the construction work on the project have been provided with new houses.

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