After grappling with tender procedures, appeals and lawsuits for two years, Minister of Power and Renewable Energy Ravi Karunanayake last week forwarded a Cabinet paper seeking approval for the Kerawalapitiya 300 Mega Watt power plant to be awarded to Consortium of GCL, Windforce and Renew Gen to construct the combine cycle LNG power plant.
The Cabinet paper seeks approval to award a letter of intent ‘and enter into an agreement with Lakdhanawi Ltd. to construct the 300MW LNG power plant to be built in 2021’.
However, the initial tender was called only to construct a 300 MW power plant in Kerawalapitiya.
Minister Karunanayake told the Sunday Observer that the second project too was awarded, taking into consideration several aspects.
“While we gave the official tender to one person, we sought the next person on the competition itself. It’s a Government owned entity and there is no loss nor corruption and the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) has approved it,” the Minister said. He said that for the first time the Ministry has moved away from emergency power purchasing and this will result in saving Rs. 80 billion for the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB).
Sulakshana Jayawardana of the CEB said that the LNG plant was scheduled to be built by the end of this year and that it’s necessary that the project is launched this year.
“This is the first time the Cabinet of Ministers, Minister and the
Ministry have looked into this issue from a consumer’s point of view. We are not going to increase any tariffs to the consumer, and if possible would reduce it. We will go for the least cost generation,” he said.
The Minister told a media conference last Friday that a section of the media was making unsubstantiated and unfounded accusations against his Ministry over the offer of tenders relating to the procurement of coal and the construction of power plants. Thus, a small section of the media was creating a wrong impression among the public, he said. The media conference was held at the Ministry auditorium.