MANNAR : Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa said on Tuesday that the Government, with the passage of time, would be reducing its dependence on thermal power and would stick to renewable energy.
Our policy would be such as we would increase the renewable energy to 80 % of the national requirement, Premier Rajapaksa told the opening ceremony of the Mannar wind power plant, which is the largest wind power plant yet to be constructed in Sri Lanka and which was owned by the Ceylon Electricity Board.
He said that the project would generate 30% of the capacity of the project from yesterday itself and that the arrangements would be made soon to make 100% of the project work fast.
He also said that Si Lanka had only 65% of the people were having electricity when his Presidency commenced in 2005 but the country was having 98% of power in 2015 when his Presidency and Government relinquished office.
The days that schoolchildren studied under the kerosene lamps were over now with 98% of the population had power, he said.
He said that he thought the UNP Government which succeeded them in 2015 would continue enhancing the power base, but said that they sadly lacked the vision to continue these projects. “We saw the good as good and he bad as bad and the only thing that they did was to continue to take revenge from us”
Our Governments successfully completed the other hydro projects such as Uma Oya, Upper Kotmale and Moragahakanda.
And we did not have a single day’s power cut during our past Governments.
We also thought that we might also face power crises and we have already made preliminary arrangements to have a 300 Megawatt Liquid Natural Gas plant at Kerawalapitiya and another 300 Megawatt coal power plant at Norochcholai. Our quest for Renewable Energy commenced in 2013, the Prime Minister said.
He also acknowledged that he was elated to have been invited to declare open the Mannar Wind power project which was the largest wind power project and which was owned by the Government after he laid the foundation stone in 2014.
