India to help Sri Lanka build power plant

B. Muralidhar Reddy

COLOMBO: Ending the nearly 14-month stalemate, India and Sri Lanka on Wednesday agreed on the exact location in Trincomalee in the east for setting up a 500-MW coal-based thermal plantand signed an understanding for commissioning the project by 2012. The agreement, with revised ‘milestones’ for completion of the project, was signed here by representatives of National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) in the presence of Sri Lanka Minister for Power John Seneviratne and visiting Indian Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh.

Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Alok Prasad, who was present on the occasion told journalists later that the project would be located at Veloore in north of Trincomalee.
$500m investment

The project, involving an investment of $500 million, would be implemented through a 50:50 joint venture company to be formed by NTPC and the CEB, and would be funded with a debt equity ratio of 70:30.

Addressing a news conference here Mr. Ramesh said that in the course of his discussion with his counterpart in Sri Lanka it was also decided to commission a $3 million feasibility study on interlinking of the Sri Lanka Electricity Board (SLEB) with the Southern Regional Electricity Grid (SREG).

Source: hindu.com