What ails power sector

While President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga has imposed restrictions on the use of electricity from the national grid under emergency regulations.A powerful trade union in the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has levelled charges of corruption and mismanagement at the CEB top brass at a press conference on Tuesday, the CEB Engineers Union President Susantha Perera has revealed that the CEB was in the red to the tune of Rs. 4000 million last year. It was, he said, paying Rs. 360 million as interest alone despite its positive balance of Rs. 3075 millions in 1999.

Mr. Perera has also warned that unless the financial situation improves the CEB will have to pay Rs. 2694 million to a state bank as overdraft interest. State institutions, the engineers have pointed out owe the CEB over Rs. 750 million.

It is not the failure of the monsoons and fuel price increases in the world market alone that have warranted the 25 per cent surcharge that the CEB is imposing on electricity bills. Mr. Perera attributes this surcharge also to financial mismanagement as well as corruption in the CEB. Had the CEB bought power generating plants straight without buying power at Rs. 12. 00 per unit and selling it at Rs. 4.50 thus incurring a massive loss, the institution could have saved at least Rs. 640 million, the union leaders have said. Who has stood to gain from this deal at the expense of the CEB and the general public?

The crisis ailing the CEB notwithstanding, the bigwigs of the institution, the union leaders have alleged, are feathering their nests. One top official, the union has said, has built himself a holiday bungalow in cooler climes at a cost of Rs. 45 million while another has spent Rs. 1 million on making his office cosier. (Have they borrowed a leaf from the books of their political bosses who are also building themselves palaces?)

These revelations are indeed shocking. They prove beyond any doubt that power corrupts be it political or otherwise. The government must order an immediate probe into the allegations made by the engineers' union.

The people are reeling under the solar plexus punches dealt by the government repeatedly. Further price increases must be avoided if the average man is not to be driven to suicide.

Moreover, Sri Lanka is heading for a power crisis as experts (including Dr. Tilak Siyambalapitiya, Former Chief Planning Engineer, CEB) have warned. They have predicted that power cuts will be as long as six hours in 2001 and eight hours in 2004. The demand for power is growing rapidly and the CEB finds it difficult to meet even the current demand when the monsoons play truant. Unfortunately it has not yet dawned on the powers that be that the power supply must be augmented by sources other than hydro. A mega power project - Norochcholai - has been shelved for years and many an expert has called for the implementation of this coal-fired power plant. But the power of the church, which is vehemently opposed to the project on the grounds that this project will pose a threat to the St. Anne Church, Talawila, has taken precedence over expert advice.

The government, those who are campaigning for this power plant say, has succumbed to the pressure brought on it by the church for fear of a backlash in terms of votes. The Bishop of Chilaw, Rev. Dr. F. Marcus Fernando in his speech at the feast of St. Anne at Talawila in March last year stated that President Chandrika Kumaratunga had given him a written assurance that the project would not be carried out.

The President, the Bishop said, had written: When the coal power plant at Nuraicholai was being planned, to meet the need for power, the people of the area, and the Bishop of Chilaw, objected to it. On that occasion I personally made a comprehensive study of the project. I paid special attention to the plea made by the Bishop of Chilaw that the Project could pose a threat to St. Anne's Shrine at Talawila. I personally met the Bishop and discussed the subject with him. Accordingly, I stopped the erection of the power project at Nuraicholai."

It is imperative that the concerns and the sensitivity of the clergy be heeded and their views respected. But the question is: Can the country do without this vital power plant with a power crisis staring it in the face? There is a proposal that this project be shifted elsewhere (Mawella?). The government must find a way out immediately without prevaricating if we are to avoid the looming power crisis.

Unless an adequate power supply is guaranteed - ideally there should be a power surplus in the country, attracting foreign investors and retaining the few we already have, will be an uphill task. All this will lead to an already bad economic situation being worse compounded. The day will also not be far away when the Brettonwoods twins twist the arms of the government to accept their solutions to the CEB's problems. This is also a danger that must be averted together with the impending power crisis.

By a sheer coincidence on Wednesday, (in the late city edition) together with our report on the CEB we published another news item on Russian President Vladimir Putin firing his power chief over power cuts. President Putin, the news item said, had sacked his energy minister, Alexander Gavin over a power shortage and black-outs in the frozen towns across Russia. The reason given was: "Energy Minister's inability to solve the problem." Putin, the ex-KGB agent is widely considered a tough guy, who means business. His is said to be the kind of leadership Russia needs at this juncture.

It is high time drastic action was taken to remedy the parlous situation in Sri Lanka's power sector. There may be lessons Sri Lanka can learn from President Putin.

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