Sri Lanka’s Trincomalee Coal Power Plant deal to be sealed next month
By Santhush Fernando in Colombo
(Chinese-funded Norechcholai coal power pant)
(Colombo, 21 September) The severely-delayed agreements on 1GW Sampur Coal Power Plant and the Anuradhapura High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) under-sea cable link to India, which are nearly two years behind schedule, are to be concluded by end October. “The second power plant will be hopefully finalized by next month. Sri Lanka-India under sea HVDC transmission line, which is linked to the Sampur agreements, will be finalized in October. India wants this to be implemented as soon as possible, since it is interested in purchasing power from Sri Lanka. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Sampur was entered into way back in 2006 and the projects were to start-off by June 2008,” a high ranking government official close to the deal said.
Although both India and Sri Lanka were very close to finish the deals, in the run up to India’s General Election- 2009, the signing of the agreements were stalled around 2009 March. By then agreements on both projects were almost finalized, and the state-run National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (NTPC) of India was to give its green light for the project.
However due to severe opposition from both Indian and Sri Lankan Tamil communities against the plant with the Tamil Nadu factor weighing heavily in the April / May 2009 Elections, and with Sri Lanka’s war against LTTE reaching its peak the projects were put on hold.
The 1GW Sampur Power Plant, will provide 500MW to the national grid by 2012 under its Phase One, while the construction is to be carried out by NPTC under the supervision of Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB). The first stage is budgeted at nearly Rs.56.5 billion (US $ 500mn), out of which 70 percent will be covered by foreign aid while the rest would be jointly funded by NTPC and the CEB.
Meanwhile, the proposed 400 KV High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission line which would connect Madurai in Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka’s Anuradhapura via Talaimannar, will be built by India’s central transmission utility- PowerGrid Corporation. This will include HVDC overhead lines from Madurai to the Indian coast (near Rameshwaram) (139 km), a 400 KV HVDC cable from the Indian coast to the Sri Lankan coast (39 km), a 400 KV HVDC overhead line from the Sri Lankan coast to Anuradhapura/Puttalam (125km).
Although was India suffering from severe power shortage overall, and though both governments attached top priority to this two projects, the projects were put on hold due to Tamil Nadu’s influence over the central Government.
However again around November 2009, although Power Purchasing Agreement (PPA), Implementation Agreement and Joint Venture Agreement, were ready there were few unresolved terminology issues between Indian and local officials.
Construction of the coal loading jetty is to be executed by the government and it has already allocated funds under the budget to the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) for the purpose. CEB will also call for tenders for the construction of transmission cable network.
The Sampur Power Plant and undersea cable link projects were to commence work way back in 2008 June.
- Asian Tribune
Although both India and Sri Lanka were very close to finish the deals, in the run up to India’s General Election- 2009, the signing of the agreements were stalled around 2009 March. By then agreements on both projects were almost finalized, and the state-run National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (NTPC) of India was to give its green light for the project.
However due to severe opposition from both Indian and Sri Lankan Tamil communities against the plant with the Tamil Nadu factor weighing heavily in the April / May 2009 Elections, and with Sri Lanka’s war against LTTE reaching its peak the projects were put on hold.
The 1GW Sampur Power Plant, will provide 500MW to the national grid by 2012 under its Phase One, while the construction is to be carried out by NPTC under the supervision of Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB). The first stage is budgeted at nearly Rs.56.5 billion (US $ 500mn), out of which 70 percent will be covered by foreign aid while the rest would be jointly funded by NTPC and the CEB.
Meanwhile, the proposed 400 KV High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission line which would connect Madurai in Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka’s Anuradhapura via Talaimannar, will be built by India’s central transmission utility- PowerGrid Corporation. This will include HVDC overhead lines from Madurai to the Indian coast (near Rameshwaram) (139 km), a 400 KV HVDC cable from the Indian coast to the Sri Lankan coast (39 km), a 400 KV HVDC overhead line from the Sri Lankan coast to Anuradhapura/Puttalam (125km).
Although was India suffering from severe power shortage overall, and though both governments attached top priority to this two projects, the projects were put on hold due to Tamil Nadu’s influence over the central Government.
However again around November 2009, although Power Purchasing Agreement (PPA), Implementation Agreement and Joint Venture Agreement, were ready there were few unresolved terminology issues between Indian and local officials.
Construction of the coal loading jetty is to be executed by the government and it has already allocated funds under the budget to the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) for the purpose. CEB will also call for tenders for the construction of transmission cable network.
The Sampur Power Plant and undersea cable link projects were to commence work way back in 2008 June.
- Asian Tribune
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