Munza Mushtaq in Colombo,  Wed Mar 15 12:35:52 EST 2006

    In what appeared to be a landmark move, an agreement to construct the
highly controversial Norochcholai coal power plant was sealed today
morning.The signing ceremony took place at 10 00 a.m. today at the
Presidential Secretariat in Colombo in the presence of President
Mahinda Rajapakse and State Councilor of the Chinese Government Tang
Jiaxuan. The sealing of the agreement also means the end to almost a
decade long stiff opposition by certain groups including oil lobbies
and the Bishop of Chilaw Rev. Frank Marcus Fernando, who has been
vociferous against the coal power plant being constructed in
Norochcholai on reported 'environment concerns'.
Full Story


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- The Academic

If srilanka is to move forward this is the only option to achieve cheaper energy. However Sri Lanka should try to invest more on improving renewable enery sectors such as Bio mass, Solar Wind etc. Good move despite heavy Puttalam Booruwa's pressure.

Goodluck Sri Lanka!!
Hope there will be no more hiccups until the completion.

It realy sorry to see these things happen in such a silly way.
Other countries of the world are on debate whether to go to or not to nuclear power.  Still our people are protesting for coal power plant.

There are no roads to drive vehicles, but there was lot of protest against the sothern highway progect.  
It is realy sad to see our peoples resistance to change.

At least now it is going to happen.  Good luck to power plant.


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"#¤¤&/()=?``=?[ }

[quote="Janaka"]It realy sorry to see these things happen in such a silly way.
Other countries of the world are on debate whether to go to or not to nuclear power.  Still our people are protesting for coal power plant.  (Whichis one of the world´s oldest power sources)

There are no roads to drive vehicles, but there was lot of protest against the sothern highway progect.  
It is realy sad to see our peoples resistance to change.

At least now it is going to happen.  Good luck to power plant.[/quote]


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The question is, is the plant viable at that site. Coal needs to be landed by barges and one of the most potent arguments the Bishop had was that it was not going to be possible to land any coal much of the year.

Trincomalee is the obvious site for the plant but political and security reasons, together with a possible negative effect on tourism, go against it.

In most countries one could discount the possibility that they would build a power plant that would never go into full operation, but as the bungs are the same whether it produces any electricity or not,  nobody can be sure.

I congratulate the goverment for having enough guts to start this project. Both Ranil and CBK had not even 1% of the courage to start this very important project. Sri Lanka is still a developing country so we have no alternative at this moment but go for coal power. Once we reache the developed state we can look for more cleaner alternatives...
Again congratulation Mahonda and the goverment for being practical...

Quote:

Both Ranil and CBK had not even 1% of the courage to start this very important project.

Actually it was decided when CBK was still President. But then you are not famed for letting a mere fact stop you spouting your opinions.

Stephen Jones wrote:

Quote:

Both Ranil and CBK had not even 1% of the courage to start this very important project.

Actually it was decided when CBK was still President. But then you are not famed for letting a mere fact stop you spouting your opinions.

CBK as usual talked lot of things but implemented very little other than selling the remaining goverment institutes

Stephen Jones wrote:

Quote:

Both Ranil and CBK had not even 1% of the courage to start this very important project.

Actually it was decided when CBK was still President. But then you are not famed for letting a mere fact stop you spouting your opinions.

True.
It is CBK who signed this deal.

Coal plant deal in China
President Chandrika Kumaratunga will be signing a deal on Norochcholai power plant with China during her six-day state visit to the republic.

In addition, the president is to sign deals on southern highway and oil tank farms in Hambantota.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sinhala/news/story/2005/08/050828_president_china.shtml

I agree with Selvan and would like to see how the project is implemented and operated. One, the Sri Lankan Government does not believe in the doctrine of continuity. Every new government wants to annul commitments made by its predecessor and later do the same project at a higher cost with new partners. Two, the secondary under the table transaction costs are so high that the project is often bought by the government offering guarantees against risks which go beyond business risks entrepreneurs would normally take in a developed economy.  Three, as Stephen Jones suggested, I am also not sure if the logistics of the procurement and supply of coal to the site have been thought through and properly costed. Four, I doubt if the best technology has been employed in the design of the project. Five, the government can be held to ransom by a foreign state owned company using the power station as a diplomatic instrument to subject Sri Lanka to its control. Strategic sectors of an economy should not be controlled by a foreign government. Six, time and again contractual arrangements crafted by foreign lawyers at variance with normal practices in a developed economy and adopting models used in failed economies lead inevitably to disputes during implementation as well as during operation of the plant and can result in expensive arbitral awards. I suspect that arbitral awards are shared in Sri Lanka between the parties. Very sad. I dread for the future generations that have to bear the full costs.

As I have argued elsewhere in these discussion groups even where a foreign investor is prepared to meet all project costs, the project should go out on tender and the bidding process should be fully transparent and contract documents should be public documents and not impose secerecy and confidential requirements on the government.

Refering to the above comments from Gamunu Watch / Stephen Jones / Gamunu Watch / Negombo :

Please note that all major engineering projects in Sri Lanka, particulaly the ones from which the economic benifits are realised much later as 10~15 yrs - always such projects sit on the drawing board (feasibility, planning and preliminary design stages) for more than 10 years.

This includes the Original Mahaveli, Accelerated Mahaveli, ADB/World Bank funded road development projects, Samanalawewa power, Colombo Matara Exressway (M1 ?), Expansions to Ambatale Water Supply Intake, First Thermal Power Plant, etc...etc

It is a big mistake .........if we academics congratulate the current President (elected exactly 4 months ago) for pioneering the Norochcholai Coal Power Plant for which the deal signed today.

As an engineering profesional I know very well that - Irrigation Dept, CECB, Water Board, RDA, UDA etc.... have their master plans with all very important projects highlighted with relevent cost/economic benifit analysis etc, but it is because of the fault of our politicians that these projects are getting delayed unnecessarily and funds are diverted to projects of their own interest.

If at all - if someone to be congratulated today for commencing this power plant - it is the professionals of CEB who were able to convince the Govt that THERE IS NO OTHER OPTION.