Electricity for all IDP villages in North-East

Chamikara Weerasinghe

Over 95 percent of a quarter million displaced people in the North-East now receive electricity after resettlement in their places of origin,Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB)Chairman Vidya Amarapala said yesterday.

The Board’s electricity penetration programmes have reached all IDP villages in the North and East, he said.

The board is giving electricity to the resettled free of charge. The provision of electricity will be available to them throughout the year, he said.

He explained that CEB started its electricity enhancement projects in the districts of Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Vavuniya, Mullaitivu and Mannar in the Northeast as part of the government’s strategy for the revival of infrastructure in war-torn areas under Vadakkin Wasanthan (The Awakening North), the National Programme introduced by the government at the initiative of Minister Basil Rajapaksa.

”CEB has fulfilled its task of introducing electricity to the resettled on a fast track under the programme,” he said. The projects were implemented from the time the government ended LTTE terrorism in the Northeast in 2009.

Amarapala said their challenge was to rapidly transmit electricity in the war-torn districts so that other development activities could manifest themselves with its help.

This is in keeping with the government policy to fast track development in the Northeast under Vadakkin Wasantham. He said CEB spent billions of rupees to supply electricity to the Northeast and said they sincerely hope that this has laid a firm footing to achieve much expected economic growth in the region.

”CEB has completed all its electricity generation projects in the Northeast. There are a few projects that will be finished during the course of the year,” he added.

Asked if CEB could afford to give electricity free of charge to the resettled considering its financial losses , Amarapala said the CEB has been able to recoup its financial losses considerably in the last year.

He said CEB made a profit of Rs 5 billion last year by implementing programmes to recover its electricity bills with new management standards on the directions of Power and Energy Minister Champika Ranawaka.

It recovered from a loss of Rs 40 billion, that was taking place on a yearly basis, he pointed out.

He also said CEB is prepared to bear any costs in support of the government’s post war reconciliation programme. The CEB has been a strong partner so far in the process,he said.

”We think our effort should reflect more than mere illumination of household bulbs in the North. Electricity will pave the way for the resettled to start new industries in resettled villages,”he said.

”We expect the resettled people in the North to become entrepreneurs who can contribute in a big way to the national economy,” he added.