Move comes amid criticism of Adani Group’s entry into the island’s power sector
Move comes amid criticism of Adani Group’s entry into the island’s power sector
Sri Lanka on Thursday amended its electrical energy laws to remove aggressive bidding for power initiatives in a transfer that drew sharp criticism from the Opposition.
A majority of MPs voted for the amendments to the Sri Lanka Electricity Act within the 225-member House, regardless of commerce unions within the state-run Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) strongly resisting the transfer.
On Wednesday, the CEB union warned the federal government of an indefinite strike from midnight in protest the brand new laws, and towards the federal government roping in India’s Adani Group to execute renewable power initiatives within the island with none aggressive bidding course of. However, the strike motion was suspended after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa agreed to satisfy the union leaders, apart from issuing a rare gazette declaring electrical energy a vital service.
Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekara defended the modification saying it was “essential to the quick development” of renewable power. “Hope to encourage Foreign direct investments as well as opportunities to local developers to participate in the renewable energy plans,” he mentioned in a tweet.
In March 2022, the Adani Group signed an settlement with the CEB for 2 massive renewable energy initiatives in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province, to be arrange at a value of $ 500 million, with a capability of producing 500 MW collectively. The transfer drew fierce criticism from Sri Lanka’s most important opposition celebration Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB or United People’s Force) that noticed that the Adani Group’s “backdoor entry” into Sri Lanka’s power sector was “disrupting the country’s competitive electricity generation system”. The celebration’s chief government accused the Rajapaksa authorities of “pampering” Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “notorious friends”.
While the Opposition proposed a compromise modification to cast off tenders for initiatives lower than 10MW, it had no takers in authorities. SJB lawmaker Harsha De Silva termed Thursday’s transfer a “horrible decision”. “Due to non-transparent procurement and corruption, we pay so much more than necessary for electricity. One bright spot was the requirement for competition in renewable projects but had delays. Instead of fixing the problem they did away with competition. Horrible decision,” he mentioned on Twitter.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe welcomed the adoption of the Sri Lanka Electricity (modification) invoice. “This allows rapid deployment of cost-effective renewable energy to the grid,” he mentioned in a tweet.
Source: www.thehindu.com
