Ceylon Today Editorial

No plan B for power

20 October 2016

The new Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) elected by the masses of this country nearly two years ago, on 8 January 2015, has failed in one of its mandates, i.e. of providing uninterrupted electricity power supply to the people of this country.

The present crisis began on Monday, when, at least certain suburban areas of Colombo were deprived of electricity for hours due to an unannounced power cut. This situation was much like a terrorist attack, coming as a shock to a number of households.

Nonetheless, within 24 hours, Power and Energy Ministry announced islandwide power cuts due to a malfunction in the transmission system of the Norochcholai Coal Power Plant on Saturday. (Ceylon Today of 18 October 2016)

The duration of the power cuts will be 1½ hours, comprising one hour during the day and half-an-hour in the evening. Colombo District will be exempt from power cuts, the article said, though the contrary took place on Monday, when certain suburban areas such as Mount Lavinia were deprived of power for 2 ½ hours in the morning, from 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., and again for half an hour in the evening.

The article also said that factories and hospitals would be exempt from such power cuts. The report quoting Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said that repairs to Norochcholai, which apparently has the capacity to supply 900 MW of power, will be completed in five days time, ostensibly that by then, uninterrupted power would once more be restored to the country, islandwide, i.e. by next week.

The question is, to meet this contingent situation, was there no way, other than by resorting to power cuts, available, to tide over this situation? What about the purchase of emergency power?

Electricity is a right. While it's commendable that GoSL, according to that article, has assured that Colombo District, hospitals and factories would be unaffected by these, apparently temporary power cuts, GoSL, the Ministry and Siyambalapitiya should know that Colombo is not Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka comprises a total of 25 districts and Colombo is just one of them. While it's true that Sri Lanka's industrial hub, not forgetting its commercial and political powerhouse is also centred in Colombo, that however doesn't mean that Colombo should get preferential status over all other 24 districts in the island.

It's not that this newspaper is advocating that the power cuts be distributed equitably over all 25 districts on the island, far from it. The question is: Whether, GoSL, looked at all other possibilities to ensure uninterrupted power to the country? And, after having exhausted all of those possibilities, was it then that it resorted to these power cuts?

Did GoSL pursue the possibility of buying emergency power from private power suppliers who generally are foreign and who supply such power as offshore operators before resorting to power cuts?

In an era of the internet, there wouldn't have been that difficult to call for 'emergency' quotations from such contractors and awarding the same to the best possible bid. Probably, supplying of power to certain parts of the island for only five days may not have been economical to such vendors. Also, if sailing time is considered, such emergency suppliers, in proximity to Sri Lanka, may be based in hubs such as Singapore and Dubai.Probably, the sailing times from such hubs to Colombo, to ship the equipment to provide emergency power may take as much as five days. By that time, if what GoSL/Ministry/Siyambalapitiya says is true, power by then would have been restored. Under such circumstances, emergency power may not have been an option.

Nonetheless, Norochcholai Power Project, the apparent cause for the present crisis, per se, is controversial. It was executed by the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime, sans tender call. It was built by the Chinese on foreign commercial loan terms. Virtually from the beginning, it was beset with problems. Once commissioned, it was unable to provide power. As recently as 2013, i.e. during the Rajapaksa era, after Norochcholai had been commissioned, then too, the country faced blackouts because of such breakdowns.

Therefore, the unreliability of Norochcholai is at least three years old. Knowing this, what the public would want to know from the new government is, what were the contingency plans it had in place if Norochcholai failed once more, if such a backup plan was available, to assure the provision of uninterrupted power? Going from the current power cuts, it appears that GoSL had no such plan B for power.