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No obligation to supply fuel to CEB: Udaya Gammanpila

10 Feb 2022

 
  • Gammanpila says Lokuge informed CEB will procure from LIOC
  • LIOC MD says no agreement entered into to supply fuel to CEB 
  By Shenal Fernando According to Minister of Energy Udaya Gammanpila, the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) no longer has an obligation to provide fuel to the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) following the recent announcement by Minister of Power Gamini Lokuge that the CEB will acquire their fuel requirements from the Lanka Indian Oil Company (LIOC).  Speaking to The Morning Business, the Minister of Energy stated: “We no longer have an obligation to supply fuel to them (CEB) because they informed us that they will finance their fuel requirements from the LIOC. So right now, we are not bringing fuel for them, they haven’t even supplied us the requested US dollars and they have also stated that they don’t want fuel from us. However, we will continue to supply fuel to them as we can, whenever they request our help. Therefore, even though we are still supplying them fuel, we have no obligation.” On 30 January, the Minister of Power claimed that the CEB is in the process of purchasing fuel directly from the LIOC. He further stated that a proposal will be submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers to purchase electricity from private power plants as well. However, when The Morning Business contacted LIOC Managing Director Manoj Gupta, he denied the existence of such an agreement to provide fuel between the LIOC and CEB or negotiations to that effect. Explaining further, he said: “We had a one-time discussion. But we also have the same problems with respect to letters of credit (LCs) and problems with respect to the availability of US dollars and we have shared these concerns with them.” Furthermore, speaking to The Morning Business, Co-Cabinet Spokesperson and Minister of Mass Media Dullas Alahapperuma stated that no such proposal to purchase electricity from private power plants was submitted to the Cabinet as Lokuge had failed to attend the cabinet meeting owing to personal reasons. Despite numerous efforts by The Morning Business to contact the Minister of Power, all such efforts proved futile and the Minister’s office informed us that he is out of the country receiving treatment. Gammanpila further noted that the CEB had repaid last week Rs. 30 billion of the Rs. 100 billion owed to the CPC. Moreover, speaking to us last week, Ministry of Energy Secretary K.D.R. Olga stated that the CEB had obtained fuel from the CPC during January 2021 on credit up to a value of Rs. 6.3 billion, taking the total amount owed by the CEB to the CPC to around Rs. 100 billion. According to her, this amount owed to the CPC would have to be collected soon as the CPC is in need of Sri Lankan rupees to pay the local banks for the purchase of US dollars.  She stated: “If the CEB does not take steps to rectify this situation, we will face major issues in purchasing the required US dollars for imports in the near future.”  


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