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CEB awaits $ 34.6 mn to pay for coal shipments

12 Apr 2022

  • CBSL yet to disburse sum; torn between medicines and fuel as priority
BY Pamodi Waravita The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) is yet to receive $ 34.6 million that is required to pay for two coal shipments to be used to power the Norochcholai Coal Power Plant, as the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) is struggling to prioritise between payments for medicines and fuel. Official sources at the Ministry of Power told The Morning on 11 April that they have informed the relevant authorities, including the CBSL, that $ 34.6 million is needed to open letters of credit so that the two coal shipments can be unloaded before the expected monsoon begins at the end of April. “However, we have been informed that the CBSL is trying to prioritise money for a number of things at the moment, especially medicine. We cannot expect them to prioritise coal before medicine,” they added. The country imports the required coal shipments until August before the monsoon begins in April. The next batch of coal imports begin again in October. With hydropower reserves declining to record low levels and only picking up very recently, and the CEB increasingly being unable to obtain fuel for thermal power plants due to the US dollar crisis hampering fuel imports by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, the Norochcholai Coal Power Plant has been adding a valuable 900 megawatts of power to the national grid. Fuel shortages have severely impacted the country’s electricity generation, as thermal power plants have faced routine shutdowns due to a lack of fuel. As a result of this, the Sri Lankan public has been forced to endure lengthy power cuts, sometimes lasting even up to 13 hours per day.


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