Operations at the Lakvijaya Coal Power Plant in Norochcholai will be completely halted in January 2023, as coal stocks will completely run out by 31 December 2022, claimed the Ceylon Electricity Board Engineers’ Union (CEBEU).

Speaking to the media yesterday (20), CEBEU President Nihal Weeraratne claimed: “By 31 December, all operations will be halted at the Norochcholai Coal Power Plant. The whole country will be at a standstill.”

Responding to a question posed by the media on an assurance given by CEB Chairman N.S. Ilangakoon regarding 24 coal shipments arriving on the island in January 2023, Weeraratne noted that it was not possible. 

“No matter how many consignments of coal arrive, they will have to be at sea. Let’s say it takes five days to unload 60,000 metric tonnes (MT) of coal, then only six shipments can be unloaded in a month. Orders for coal should be placed on time, and the ships should also be unloaded at a specific time. It would be impossible to unload 24 ships in January.”

Last month, the CEBEU stated that of the 38 ships carrying 60,000 MT of coal, which are expected to reach Sri Lanka by April 2023, 10 ships should have reached the country by then, but only four ships had arrived, and therefore warned of over 10-hour long power cuts from July to October of next year (2023) due to the failure to procure coal on time.

Thereafter, on 28 November, Lanka Coal Company Chairman Shehan Sumanasekara issued a statement assuring that all measures were being taken to procure 35 shipments of coal despite the many challenges they faced. According to the statement, four shipments of coal have arrived on the island with a fifth shipment expected to arrive on 8 December.