News

Huge amounts of water allowed to run off from reservoirs without generating electricity

Published

5 years ago

2021/11/16

By Ifham Nizam

The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) had lost nearly eight billion rupees savings due to the lackadaisical attitude of the Dispatch Department, energy experts said yesterday.

The Rantembe, Victoria, Kotmale and Randenigala reservoirs are overflowing. Nearly 350 GWh were lost from Victoria Randenigala and Rantembe as per estimates in November 2021, independent energy expert, Energy Analyst Dr. Vidhura Ralapanawe pointed out. He the figure was much higher when other reservoir overflows were also added, and the CEB dispatch teams had a lot to answer for.

A senior official of the CEB said that they were faced with a number of technical issues in most plants, especially due to the inclement weather. However, he ruled out sabotage for low voltages experienced in some parts of the country.

With downpours, the reservoirs are now spilling over. This could be considered as a loss of revenue to the CEB as water had a value and was lost when spilled without generating power, a retired senior engineer said.

He said that if the CEB was not prepared to go for some sort of demand management which is the cheapest option to meet the ever expanding loads, very costly generation through high cost thermal generation had to be undertaken increasing the losses the utility annually suffered.

“A change in the attitude of the CEB organisation is urgently required to minimise costs to reduce the annual losses. Revision of the tariffs is essential and the CEB must promote lower cost wind and solar power generation, the retired veteran pointed out.

The official stressed the need to implement the government policy of 70% renewables by 2030 urgently. “Costly generation from imported fuel must be reduced as much as possible. To have more variable wind and solar generation, they must plan for storage in the system. This could be both grid storage and behind the meter storage.” The senior official also urged the government to encourage the use of home storage by removing import duty on batteries and encourage local manufacture of the batteries and even solar modules. These must be undertaken urgently so that all costly imported fuel generation could be minimised early, he added.

“The CEB also has a problem with the release of water which is decided weekly by the Mahaweli authority and the Irrigation Department according to their requirements.

“These requirements must also be met by the CEB as most of the Mahaweli Dams have priority for water release for irrigation than for power generation. Providing a highly reliable supply costs extra money. Can we afford this now? Sri Lanka is already short of dollars, and we cannot expect to provide a 100% reliable supply.

“We must be able to identify non-essential loads and must be able to interrupt the supply. The proper tariff will also help in saving energy. It must encourage reducing waste.”

The veteran also insisted that the plan to install rooftop solar free on the dwellings of Samurdhi recipients should be undertaken immediately. A large sum of money given for solar projects by the Indian government had so far not been used. Putting rooftop solar on all government buildings and schools should be done immediately, he said.

The CEB could be faced with the problem of lack of substation capacity and higher voltage in the Long LT lines, but there are many technical solutions to these problems. Active involvement of the universities to find low costs solutions must be pursued and in a well-planned manner, these must be implemented urgently, he stressed.

Much research done in the universities is not put into practice by the utility due to poor attitudes. What is required is effective management at the CEB. It was unfortunate the promotion by seniority only resulted in getting General Managers of the CEB who remain in office for a short period. “So, the tendency is just to manage the business of the utility till one retires without taking on a challenging task which could result in losing the job,” the senior engineer added.

He said he believed that promotion by performance was a difficult exercise, which may be influenced by politics. “A properly balanced system needs to be developed to have good performers to be promoted quickly and at the same time must provide the staff in different positions proper training so that they can perform well in doing their task. It will take time and must constantly work towards this effectively, which will need effective management at the CEB with no political intervention.”

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Fast Attack Craft P 4447 recovered in successful salvage operation

Published

3 hours ago

2026/09/14

Priyan

The Sri Lanka Navy successfully recovered its Fast Attack Craft P 4447 following a successful salvage operation, bringing a multi-stage emergency response to a close.

The craft, which ran into distress during a routine patrol on 15th August 2026 off Angulana, was brought to the surface on 11th September, from a depth of approximately 80 feet. It was
subsequently towed to the Colombo Dockyard premises.
The initial phase of the operation immediately following the incident focused on search and rescue. A joint effort involving the Navy, Air Force, Police, and local fishermen from Angulana
resulted in the rescue of 11 crew members. The search and rescue phase drew to a close with the recovery of the remains of the Second in Command of the craft, on 4th September.

Following the search and rescue phase, specialized Navy diving and salvage teams launched a dedicated recovery phase against rough sea conditions and underwater challenges, adhering to
strict safety protocols. The Navy’s marine, hull, electrical, and electronic engineering teams utilized specialized technical know-how and equipment to raise the vessel in stages.

Thus, the salvage operation marked an outstanding achievement attained through the professionalism, technical expertise of Navy divers, and coordinated contribution of all
engineering and technical branches of the Sri Lanka Navy. Technical support and specialized expertise were also extended by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority and Colombo Dockyard PLC.

News

CIABOC member’s appointment: Controversy over Speaker under probe heading selection process

Published

5 hours ago

2026/09/14

Thilina Walpola

By Shamindra Ferdinando

The Opposition should intensity its focus on the forthcoming selection of a member of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) and remain vigilant as Speaker Dr. Jagath Wickremaratne, MP, the head of the Constitutional Council (CC) tasked with making the relevant recommendation, is under investigation by the CIABOC, sources familiar with the ongoing inquiry told The Island.

Chethiya Goonasekara, PC, is expected to complete his three-year term on Dec 31, 2026. Sources pointed out that CIABOC Commissioners are appointed by the President on the recommendation made by the 10-member Constitutional Council.

The CIABOC initiated the investigation following a complaint lodged by suspended Chief of Staff and Deputy Secretary General of Parliament Chaminda Kularatne in early February this year. Sources said that as Goonasekera is scheduled to complete his term toward the end of 2026, the CC would have to call applications soon to choose the successor.

Goonasekara received his appointment from President Ranil Wickremesinghe in January 2024. A Justice W. M. N. P. Iddawala was appointed Chairman of the CIABOC. The other commissioner is K. Bernard Rajapakse.

Asked whether Iddawala and Rajapakse, too, would complete their terms soon, sources said that in terms of the Anti-Corruption Act No 09 of 2023, the Chairman of CIABOC would hold office for a period of five years, second commissioner (K. Bernard Rajapakse) for four years and the third commissioner (Chethiya Goonasekara) for a period of three years.

Sources said that the Opposition as well as civil society representatives in the CC should take up the issue of Speaker facing an investigation by the CIABOC taking part in the forthcoming selection process. Responding to queries, sources emphasized that the issue was whether in terms of Section 107 of the Anti-Corruption Act the participation of the Speaker in the selection process amounted to a violation of the Act itself.

The current members of the CC are Dr Jagath Wickramaratne, Speaker and Chairman of the Constitutional Council, Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, Prime Minister, Sajith Premadasa, Leader of the Opposition, Bimal Rathnayake, MP, Aboobucker Athambawa, MP, Ajith P. Perera, MP, Sivagnanam Shritharan, MP, Austin Fernando, Civil society representative, Prof. Wasantha Seneviratne, Civil society representative and Ranjith Ariyaratne, Civil society representative.

Sources pointed out that in spite of the sensitivity of the case, the CIABOC recorded Kularatne’s statement in the second week of August, six months after he lodged the complaint.

The CIABOC on 3, 8 and 10 Sept recorded the statements from the Transport Officer, Deputy Director, Administration and Assistant Director, Finance regarding the use of facilities by the Speaker, those assigned to his staff and other relevant matters.

The NPP named Dr. Wickramaratne as the Speaker after Asoka Ranwala resigned over controversy regarding his higher education qualifications.

SJB lawmaker Dayasiri Jayaskera has repeatedly raised the issues concerning the Speaker with the focus also on the Speaker using two government-managed residences, relevant staff in addition to expenditure on food, transport and fuel provided to the Speaker’s private secretary.

Political sources said that trouble erupted after the Parliamentary Staff Advisory Council in late January sacked Kularatne accusing him of providing false information to secure his appointment. Before being appointed as the Deputy Secretary-General of Parliament in 2023, Kularatne held several high-ranking positions, including Secretary to the Chief Government Whip, Additional Secretary to the President, Additional Secretary to the Prime Minister, and Additional Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition.

The SJB declared in Parliament that Ranwala should be brought back as the Speaker as they have no faith in Wickramaratne. MP Mujibur Rahuman jokingly told parliament that the Opposition wouldn’t raise Ranwala’s educational qualifications.

News

GMOA: Countrywide cadre revision not done since 2015

Published

5 hours ago

2026/09/14

Thilina Walpola

Dhammika

The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) has stressed the need to conduct a comprehensive countrywide cadre revision urgently.

GMOA spokesman Dr. Lasitha Dhammika told The Island that the failure on the part of successive governments to conduct cadre revision caused the deterioration of the public sector health services. Due to the absence of required statistics, they hadn’t been able to fully comprehend the situation on the ground and to ascertain the requirements of the public.

Dr. Dhammika pointed out the expansion of the services without supporting statistics and the need to initiate an immediate cadre revision. According to him, the GMOA had raised this issue with successive governments without success. The GMOA spokesman said that they also sought relevant information from the Health Ministry in terms of the Right to Information (RTI) Act two weeks ago but was yet to receive response.

(SF)