The Government is considering the use of local government and public funds to invest in new companies which are expected to be placed under the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), following the envisaged unbundling process included in the power sector reforms, The Sunday Morning reliably learns.

The matter is being considered as the Government remains undecided on the option of allowing private investment for the companies that are to be formed under the new restructuring process to be adopted by the CEB.

However, a senior Government official who wished to remain anonymous told The Sunday Morning that details on investments for the proposed companies had not been specified in the report recently submitted by the committee appointed to make recommendations on the restructuring of loss-making State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs).

According to the official, the companies formed under the proposed restructuring mechanism will be similar to the Lanka Electricity Company (LECO) business model.

However, questions remain on how the Government will fund or find investors for the capital that may be needed for the reforms process.

The restructuring process commenced in August following Cabinet approval being received for a proposal submitted by Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera. 

Accordingly, the Cabinet appointed a committee to propose reforms to restructure the power and energy sectors controlled by the CEB and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) within a month.

Meanwhile, a senior CEB engineer told The Sunday Morning that the Government had ignored the proposals submitted by the CEB Engineers’ Union on restructuring and alleged that there was a hidden agenda behind the process, as the Government was desperately trying to earn instant cash by selling off the power plants owned by the CEB.

Attempts to contact the Minister of Power and Energy regarding investment and funding options for the CEB unbundling process failed.