CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

INDIAN CENTRAL GOVERNMENT DISREGARDS LTTE PROXY PARTY PROTESTS AND AGREES FOR POWER PLANT IN SAMPUR

By Walter Jayawardhana

The Indian central government has disregarded the protests of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and has finally agreed to build the coal fired Thermal power plant in Sampur, the former garrison town of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which was snatched from them by the Sri Lanka Army in September 2006.

The proxy party of the LTTE, the TNA has been protesting to the Indian government that India’s National Thermal Power Corporation should not be building the India invested Sri Lanka power plant in their former garrison town.

Indian newspapers reported that finally New Delhi agreed with the Mahinda Rajapaksa government that Sampur should be the location for the new 500 MW power plant.
Probably due to the political agitation , previously India preferred to have the power plant close to the Trincomalee Harbour.

For some time it became a tug-of-war between India’s National Thermal Power Corporation and Sri Lanka’s Ceylon Electricity Board as to where should be the location of the plant. India preferred a land in Trincomalee next to the Indian Oil Corporation for the plant.

Under the December 2006 agreement signed between the two institutions, each corporation would hold 50 percent of the stake of the joint corporation and would have 70:30 debit equity ratio in this US $ 500 million investment.

One of Sri Lanka’s largest ever infrastructure investments , when completed the project would increase Sri Lanka’s power capacity by 20 percent.

The Tamil National Alliance’s pro-LTTE parliamentarian of the area argued the power plant would have adverse health effects on the people living in the neighborhood .

Similar health issued were raised by lobby groups connected with Norochcholai area but the Sri Lanka disregarded the protests and is currently building the plant with Chinese aid.

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