Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has observed that the government anticipated that it could complete the supply of electricity to the entire country by the end of this year.
He gave the assurance during his address at the ceremony held to lay the foundation stone for the construction of Sri Lanka’s first Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) power plant at Kerawalapitiya, Wattala on Friday, March 5. Delivering his address as the Chief Guest, Premier Rajapaksa said:
“The whole world today makes decisions with a focus on energy for it is so important to our lives. Foreseeing the potential crises in the energy sector, we built the coal power plant in Norochcholai without relying solely on hydropower. It is a great help in overcoming the power crisis during recent droughts. We did not stop there. We have launched wind farms, thermal power plants, the recently opened solid waste power plant as well as solar energy. We are doing all this to provide electricity to the people at low cost. The 350 MW Natural Liquefied Gas (LNG) Power Plant will be built using the world’s highest technology.
This is a huge leap in energy production in this country. We always go to new ways to generate energy in Sri Lanka. The first coal power plant, the first thermal power plant, the first wind power plant, and recently we opened the first solid waste power plant. We are currently feeding our power grid. Today, this power plant will be launched as the first Liquefied Gas (LNG) Power Plant in Sri Lanka.
The eco-friendly liquefied natural gas (LNG) power plant which commences construction at Kerawalapitiya today will meet 13% of the country's electricity demand. This is the development of a country. We must identify national priorities in development. The plant will enable to provide relief to the people by reducing electricity bill and I see uninterrupted power supply as a responsibility of the government.
We have so far provided electricity to 99.8% of the country. We have about 84,000 people left. We hope to complete 100% of the country’s electricity supply program by the end of this year.”
Minister of Power Dullas Alahapperuma, State Minister of Renewable Energy Duminda Dissanayake, State Ministers Susil Premajayantha, Nimal Lansa, Secretary to the Ministry of Power and Energy Wasantha Perera, Chairman of the Ceylon Electricity Board Engineer Vijitha Herath, Chairman, Lakdanavi Company Eng. U.D. Jayawardena and others were present on the occasion.
