Opinion
‘Bidding for renewables will certainly work’ –response
Dr. Tilak Siyambalapitiya writes extensively about the mismanagement of the power and energy sectors, but the government takes no action to rectify the mistakes. I am reminded of the Sinhala saying, which means ‘playing a violin to a deaf elephant’.
Dr. Siyambalapitiya says that bidding for renewables will certainly work and makes mention of wind energy. This is certainly true as bidding promotes healthy competition, but what has the government done?
Dr. Siyambalapitiya should be reminded of the agreement signed with Adani of India to pay for a unit of electricity US dollars. 14.6 cents, which works out to approximately Rs. 50 in Sri Lankan currency. Neither the CEB nor the Ministry for Power and Energy was contacted when the contract was awarded.
Now, all private suppliers of wind energy will demand the same price; the CEB’s tariff will have to be restructured accordingly at the expense of consumers, who will be burdened with higher tariffs.
This is not the only instance where the government has awarded tenders without consulting CEB or the Power and Energy Ministry, a case of being the agreement with an American company to set up an LNG Plant in Colombo. The then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa ordered the CEB to achieve a target of 70% renewable energy by year 2032, without inquiring from the CEB whether the ambitious target was feasible, given its resources and capacity.
An alarming case of political interference during the Yahapalana regime was that the Minister of Power and Energy did not approve the recommendations made by the Tender Board for an LNG plant; instead he wanted it awarded to a Chinese construction company.
The developed countries hire experts in their respective fields and rely on their opinion and advice to attain development goals, but in this country, politicians tell experts what to do.
Besides, some of our professionals do not speak out, but worse still, they actually collaborate with the corrupt politicians for their own benefit. What these professionals do not seem to realise is that in the long term, they become expendable, as can be seen from the predicament of a former Secretary to the Ministry for Health.
A Secretary to the Ministry for Power and Energy was also dismissed from service on a court order for carrying out illegal directives of the Minister.We have eminent persons of international repute who could guide and advise the government but they are not consulted.
Prof. Mohan Munasinghe was loaned by the World Bank during J. R. Jayewardene regime as an advisor on energy. He set up the Energy Division, under the Ministry of Power and Energy, and had an Act passed by Parliament. I do not know what has become of it.
Then we have Prof. K. K. Y. W. Perera, a former Chairman of CEB and also Secretary to the Ministry of Power and Energy. The CEB was run so efficiently during his tenure as a profitable venture that the Treasury insisted that CEB invest on Treasury Bills. That was possible as there was no political interference but assistance in seeking foreign funding and abiding by tender board recommendations.
Then we have Dr. P. N. Fernando, who founded the Generation Planning Division in CEB and produced CEB’s first Least Cost, Long-term Expansion Plan. Needless to say, the Energy Generation plan plays a pivotal role in running the energy sector efficiently. He left to join the Asian Development Bank, and is now retired. We also have Dr. Siyambalapitiya.
These are only a few names that come to mind. I am sure if those experts are approached, they will offer their services, free of charge, out of their love for this country, which is being ruined by politicians, who are veritable square pegs in round holes.
It has been reported that the government is planning to privatise the CEB to run it as a profitable venture, without taking into consideration adverse effects of its action. Private companies are driven by profit maximisation with no heed for the benefit of the public.
The privatisation of the CEB will lead to a steep hike in the cost of electricity, and an increase in cost of production will place the local exporters at a disadvantage in an extremely competitive global environment.Socio-economic development of a country hinges on power and energy, and this vital sector should be handled by the State with the help of patriotic experts.
G. A. D. Sirimal
The first and only tsunami that Sri Lanka experienced was on Boxing Day(26th) of December 2004. My wife and I, as usual, went down to Modara in Moratuwa to purchase our seafood requirements of seafood from our familiar fishmonger, Siltin, from whom we had been buying fish for a long time. Sometimes we used to take a couple of friends of ours. But on this day, it was only both of us that went on this trip.
We made our purchases and were returning home and when we came up to the Dehiwala bridge, many people were looking down at the canal from both sides of the bridge. This was strange, as normally if there was something unusual, it would be on one side.
Anyway, we came home unaware of anything that had happened. A school friend of mine (sadly he is no longer with us) telephoned me and asked whether I was aware of what had happened. When I answered him in the negative, he told me to switch on the TV and watch. Then when I did so and saw what was happening, I was shocked. But still I did not know that we had just managed to escape being swept away by the tsunami.
Later, when I telephoned Siltin and asked him, he said that both of us had a narrow escape. Soon after we had left in our car, the tsunami had invaded the shore with a terrifying wave and taken away everything of the fishmongers, including their stalls, the fish, weighing scales and money. The fishmongers had managed to run to safety.
This had been about five minutes after we had left. So, it was a narrow shave to have escaped the wrath of the demining tsunami( the name many Sri Lankans came to know after it hit our island very badly}
HM NISSANKA WARAKAULLE
Sri Lanka has recorded a staggering 375 elephant deaths in the past eleven and a half months due to a multitude of causes, according to the Department of Wildlife Conservation. U. L Thaufeeq, Deputy Director – Elephant Conservation said the deaths include 74 from gunshots, 53 from electrocution, 49 from hakka patas (explosive devices hidden in food), seven from poisoning, 10 from train accidents, three from a road accident, and six by drowning. It makes such diabolical reading!
“The causes of other deaths are due to natural causes or causes that could not be identified. Most of the elephants that died were young,” the official said.
Meanwhile, the human-elephant conflict has also taken a toll on people, with 149 human deaths reported this year.
Accordingly, human-elephant conflict has resulted in 524 deaths of both elephants and humans in 2024.
In 2023, a total of 488 elephants and 184 people have died consequent to the conflict, according to Wildlife Department statistics.
The human-elephant conflict in Sri Lanka has escalated to unprecedented levels with reasons like habitat destruction, encroachment, and the lack of sustainable coexistence measures contributing to the issue.
This is an indictment of the Wildlife Department for just giving the sad yearly statistics of shocking losses of our National treasures !
Given the fact that Sri Lanka boasts of 29.9% of the country declared as protected forests, Sri Lanka is a haven for nature lovers. Boasting 26 national parks, 10 nature reserves including 3 strict nature reserves, and 61 sanctuaries, the national parks in Sri Lanka offer an incredible variety of wildlife experiences.
Taken in that context, the million dollar question is why on earth the Wildlife Department is not being proactive to capture these magnificent animals and transport them into protected sanctuaries, thus effectively minimising dangers to villagers ?
Being a Buddhist country primarily, to turn a blind eye to these avoidable tragic deaths to mankind and wild elephants, we should be ashamed !
As a practising Buddhist myself, I think our clergy could play a major part in calling upon the Wildlife Department to get their act together sooner rather than later to protect human elephant conflicts !
Sri Lanka being a favourite destination amongst foreign tourists, they are bound to take a dim view of what is happening on the ground!
If the top brass in the responsible department are not doing their job properly, may be there is a case for the new President to intervene before it gets worse!
All animal lovers hope and pray the New Year will usher in a well coordinated plan of action put in place to ensure the well being of wildlife and villagers !
Sunil Dharmabandhu
Wales, UK
This has reference to the article from the Aircraft Owners and Operators Sri Lanka, titled ‘Closer look at regulatory oversight and its impact on Tourism’, published on Tuesday, 24th December 2024.To explain further, in the beginning there was the Air Navigation Act No 15 of 1950 which was followed by the Air Navigation Regulations (ANR) of 1955. This was long before the national airline had acquired pressurised aircraft, intercontinental jets, sophisticated navigation equipment, satellite communication and automatic landing systems, and ‘glass’ flight-deck instrumentation.
Today, civil aviation in Sri Lanka is governed by Civil Aviation Act Number 14 of 2010. Yet the Air Navigation Regulations (ANR) promulgated back in 1955 remain in force.
These outdated regulations still stipulate rules forbidding the carriage of passengers on the airplane’s wings or undercarriage (landing gear). In short, they are neither practical nor user-friendly. In contrast, the Air Navigation Regulations of other countries have progressed and are easy to read, understand, and implement.
To overcome the problem of outdated regulations, as an interim measure in 1969 the then Minister of Communications and Transport, Mr E.L.B. Hurulle issued a Government Gazette notification declaring that the Standard and Recommended Procedures (SARPs) in Annexes to the ICAO Convention signed by Ceylon in 1944 shall be made law.
Even so, nothing much was done to move with the times until updating of the Civil Aviation Act 14 of 2010, while the Air Navigation Regulations remained unchanged since 1955. However, these regulations were modified from time to time by the promulgation of Implementing Standards (IS) and General Directives (GDs) which were blindly ‘cut and pasted’ by the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL), from the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) Annexe ‘SARPS’ without much thought given. To date there are literally 99 IS’s starting from 2010.
The currently effective air navigation regulations are not in one document like the rest of the world, but all over the place and difficult for the flying public to follow as they are not regularly updated. This sad situation seems to have been noticed by the current regime.
The National Tourism Policy of the ruling NPP states, “Domestic air operations are currently limited due to high cost and regulatory restrictions. The current regulatory and operational environment will be reviewed to ensure domestic air connectivity to major tourist destinations. The potential of operating a domestic air schedule with multiple operators is proposed. Additionally, domestic airports and water aerodromes in potential key areas will be further developed, for high-end tourism growth.”
“The tourism policy recognises Sri Lanka’s potential to develop Sri Lanka’s aviation-based specialised tourism products, including fun flying, hot air ballooning, paragliding, parachuting and skydiving, and scenic seaplane operations. To facilitate the growth of these niche markets, existing regulations will be reviewed with the aim of attracting capable investors to develop and operate these offerings.”
It remains to be seen whether the NPP government lives up to those promises.
Note:
That OPA report talks of two funds: ‘Connectivity’ and ‘Viability’ for a limited period like three or five years to help jump-start the domestic aviation industry.
The ‘Connectivity Fund’ will cap the seat price for local passengers to a more affordable value to destinations while the ‘Viability Fund’ will assume that all seats are occupied and compensate the operator for any unutilised seat. The intention is to popularise domestic aviation as a safe, quick and convenient mode of transport.
Capt. Gihan A Fernando
RCyAF/ SLAF, Air Ceylon, Air Lanka, Singapore Airlines and Sri Lankan Airlines.
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