Sri Lanka says Chinese funded coal power plant to resume in fortnight

August 18, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka said its 455 million dollar Chinese funded power plant will resume operation in two weeks, after its breakdown earlier in the week resulted in countrywide power cuts, a report said. "There are some technical problems in the Lakvijaya power plant. The Chinese company, the Ceylon Electricity Board and the consultancy firm are now looking into these problems. I think within another two weeks' time we will be able to operate this plant again and restore 24-hour power supply," Power and Energy Minister Champika Ranawaka told Xinhua news agency.

He added that the coal-fired power plant had become essential to meet daily power needs due to a severe drought in the country that has reduced hydro-power generation.

The loss of the electricity generated by Lakvijaya power plant brought about two- hour power cuts that were extended to three hours from Thursday. The ministry has already announced that the daily power cuts will continue for 14 days.

"The Lakvijaya power plant is still in a defect-liability period and there are tests to be done. So I think that as far as the main machine is concerned it is ok but there are problems in the auxiliaries and various technical details becau