Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera said that the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) incurred a loss to the tune of Rs. 9.8 billion per annum as a result of the delays in the construction and commissioning of the Uma Oya hydropower plant.

“The delays in the construction and commissioning of the hydropower plant due to various politically-motivated protests are estimated to have caused a loss of Rs. 9.8 billion per annum to the CEB. The hydropower plant project was scheduled to be commissioned in December 2015,” the lawmaker said further in a post on the social media platform X.

Wijesekera’s remarks came after a meeting with the Managing Director and Chairman of the Board and the officials of the Iran-based contractor, the FARAB Group, as well as Iranian Energy Ministry officials on Monday (22). FARAB is the construction and engineering partner of the Uma Oya Multipurpose Development Project (UOMDP). 

With the commissioning of the Uma Oya hydropower plant today (24), a generation capacity of 120 megawatts (MW) will be added to the national grid while reducing the cost of energy. Wijesekera added that the project would also provide water requirements for drinking, agricultural, and irrigation requirements for beneficiaries in three districts.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe and his Iranian counterpart Dr. Ebrahim Raisi are scheduled to jointly declare open the UOMDP today. The Government said that in addition to generating 120 MW of hydroelectric power, the UOMDP is also able to supply water to paddy fields during both the Yala and Maha seasons and to provide a sustainable solution to the drinking water needs of the Badulla, Monaragala, and Bandarawela areas. The UOMDP includes the components of the construction of two dams across Uma Oya and a tributary at Welimada, a trans-basin diversion tunnel, an underground hydropower plant of 120 MW installed capacity, and the diversion of 145 million cubic metres of water to irrigate agricultural land in the Hambantota and Monaragala districts and other downstream requirements. The expected annual energy production is 290 gigawatt hours. The power plant will be connected via a 22.7 kilometre length 132 kilowatt transmission line to the Badulla Grid Substation.