Sri Lanka seeks India's help to set up 500-Mw coal-based power plant

India will help Sri Lanka construct a 500-Mw coal-based power plant in Trincomalee. An agreement in this regard is expected to be signed next month.

The agreement is being signed pursuant to a request from Sri Lanka for financial support for the power project in the eastern part of that country.

Officials from both the countries met here last month to discuss modalities for the proposed project and agreed to sign the pact next month, sources said.

“The Sri Lankan government is seeking financial assistance from India for developing a port and a power evacuation infrastructure for the project,” a senior NTPC official said.

However, the amount of funds sought by the Sri Lankan government is not known as yet. The meeting was held in the first week of March, the next one between the two governments was expected shortly, with the likelihood of the joint venture agreement being signed in May, the official said, adding that the financials of the project would be discussed in the meeting.

The Rs 4,000-crore thermal project is a joint venture between India and Sri Lanka and is the latter’s largest coal power plant.

While, construction work on the coal power plant will be undertaken by NTPC, the Ceylon Electricity Board would monitor the engineering work for it.

NTPC is spreading its operations across the sub-continent and has zeroed in on countries like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh for constructing thermal power projects.

India and Sri Lanka have also signed a memorandum of understanding for providing 250 Mw of power from the former’s central grid to Bangladesh.

An estimated investment to the tune of Rs 870.6 crore is required for grid inter-connection, of which Rs 710 crore would be spent for works in Bangladesh and about Rs 240 crore in India.

According to the deal, Bangladesh’s Power Development Board (PDB) could sell electricity to India when it has surplus electricity.