9 June 2022 05:46 pm Views - 3431
The third reading of the the Sri Lanka Electricity (Amendment) Bill was passed without a vote against to it in Parliament.
The third reading of the Bill was finally passed without a vote.
Some 120 members voted for the second reading of the Bill after a division was called by Chief Opposition Whip Lakshman Kiriella. Some 36 members voted against. SJB, Jathika Jana Balawegaya voted against while SLFP members including MP Maithripala Sirisena were absent. In addition 13 members abstained, These included Wimal Weerawansa, Udaya Gammanpila, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, Prof. Tissa Vitharana and M. L. A. M Athaullah. Around 55 members were absent during the time of voting.
SJB MP Harsha de Silva proposed an amendment under which tenders were to be called when generating power more than 10Mw. However the government opposed this prompting Dr. de Silva to call for a division. Accordingly 51 voted in favour of Dr. de Silva’s proposal while 115 voted against.
At that moment Chief Opposition Whip Kiriella called for a division for the original proposal made by the government Some 116 members voted for it and 46 against.
The third reading was passed without a vote.
The Bill paves the way for any person to apply for the issue of a generation of power. In addition the clause which said a licence is necessary for any power project which is above 25 Mw, was removed. (Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana)