The new projects will generate nearly 1,500-2,000 employment opportunities…writes Susitha Fernando
Struggling to generate power amid the ongoing financial crisis, Sri Lanka has given the go-ahead to two wind power plants by India’s Adani Group, an investment amounting to more than $400 million.
The Board of Investment (BOI) Sri Lanka approved two plants by Adani Green Energy Ltd. at Mannar and Pooneryn, the former war-torn areas in the North, the BOI said on Wednesday.
According to the BOI, the two wind power plants of 350 MW which are scheduled to be commissioned in two years, and would be added to the national grid by 2025.
The wind power plant in Mannar will generate around 250 MW while the one at Pooneryn will produce 100 MW. The new projects will generate nearly 1,500-2,000 employment opportunities.
On Wednesday, a group of officials from the Adani Group met the Sri Lanka Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekara.
“Progress of the renewable energy project of 500 MW in Pooneryn & Mannar was discussed with the visiting Adani Group officials this morning at the Ministry of Power & Energy. Officials of the Ministry, CEB & Sustainable Energy Authority participated,” tweeted Minister Wijesekara.
Hit by the worst-ever economic crisis since the independence, Sri Lanka started long hours of power cuts in January 2022 and people took to streets against this move, forcing the former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his government to step down.
Former Opposition lawmaker Ranil Wickremesinghe took over the government but continue the power cuts until massive power tariff hike by 66 per cent last week.
Port development projects
Earlier, Sri Lankan Minister of Ports, Shipping and Aviation Nimal Siripala de Silva said the government will spend around 132 million US dollars on port development projects.
These investments would be made through revenue generated from port operations, the minister said on Saturday night, Xinhua News Agency reported.
Speaking at an event in Colombo, the minister said the government has allocated over 100 million dollars for the Eastern Container Terminal and 32 million dollars for the Jaya Container Terminal.
Both terminals are fully owned subsidiaries of the state-owned Sri Lanka Ports Authority.
He added that apart from the above investments, they expect to develop the Trincomalee harbor for bulk cargo operations and the Galle harbor for tourism industry with a yacht service and facilitate the anchoring of large ships.
Sri Lanka expects to become a logistics and transport hub in the Indian Ocean.
