50 generators purchased by CEB Minister to initiate enquiry

By Sandun A Jayasekera

Power, Energy and Business Development Minister Ravi Karunanayaka yesterday said he would initiate an inquiry on the controversial purchase of 50 generators by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) from India at a cost of Rs. 1.6 billion in 2018.   

The CEB Employees’ Union (CEBEU) charges that the mobile generators with one megawatt capacity had been imported violating the tender conditions and specification and many of them became unusable.   

Secretary of the CEBEU, Ranjan Jayalal told Daily Mirror yesterday that these mobile generators were imported to use them during an emergency power failure in the country but it was revealed that they cannot be easily moved from one place to another.  Some of them are already damaged. They also don’t have the specified capacity of one megawatt. Therefore, the cost to import these generators is a waste,” he said.   

Mr. Jayalal alleged that the entire transaction has been carried out for the benefit of some officials at the CEB and the Power and Renewable Energy Ministry.   

“There are a number of grey areas in the procurement process. The offering of the tender, low capacity in generators, weight of generators that makes moving generators from one place to another in a power failure have to be investigated,” Minister Karunanayaka said.