'Politics - Power - Corruption'

Eye 2 Eye with Prasad Gunewardene

Profile

Name - W. D. J. Seneviratne

Schools - Thakshila Maha Vidyalaya, Horana and Aquinas University College, Colombo

Civil Status - Attorney-at Law (Among the final batch of Advocates-Law College, 1972)

Entered Parliament - February 1989

Portfolios held - Deputy Minister of Education, Cabinet Minister of Labour, Cabinet Minister of Health and Cabinet Minister of Justice

Present portfolio - Cabinet Minister of Power and Energy

It is a strong belief in the current context that fame and glory in the profession of politics is fast fading, due to allegations of rampant corruption and the nefarious conduct of some of our politicians of the day, which are detrimental to the interests of society and life. But, among our band of politicians, we still have, and find, clean and honest men who have taken to politics to help the nation and the people.

These men have inherited such vibrant virtues either by nature or by progeny. In their bid to serve the people and the nation, they first decided to educate themselves adequately to become professionals. Such gentlemen in our political scene inherited wealth at birth to tread on their chosen professional fields.

Today, the lawyer turned politician whom we interviewed, hails from a respected family which possessed enough resources. This man surrendered a lucrative legal profession to serve the people and the nation.

When I first met him nearly two decades ago, in the lounge of the Sri Jayewardenepura Parliament as an opposition Member, I told him he has chosen the wrong profession, perhaps in the wrong country, as I fathomed that the glory and pristine of politics was fast fading and, gentlemen of his calibre should think twice about their future.

He replied "I have everything in life at my command. What I want to do now is to dedicate my life for the people and the country".

This gentle - man in today's politics is none other than the dark, charm and persevering, W. D. J. Seneviratne, the Minister of Power and Energy, battling hard to save his people and the nation from a possible power crisis, to keep the candle burning, perhaps at both ends, to give greater light for many more years. Minister John Seneviratne is a devout Buddhist from the gem city of Ratnapura who specialised in criminal law.

A leading legal eagle in the Ratnapura jurisdiction, Seneviratne gave up a lucrative career in 1994 that earned him enough or more than enough a month. Why? Because his childhood dream was to serve the downtrodden.

Born to Welathanthrige D. P. Seneviratne, a Chairman of a then Village Council and Soma Wijesekere, this criminal lawyer dominated the jurisdiction of Balangoda, Pelmadulla, Rakwana, Embilipitiya and Ratnapura.

At Law College, he revived the Sri Lanka Freedom Law Students Association to become its President. Former SLFPer and present UNP MP, Lakshman Kiriella too was a member of that Association as a law student.

Seneviratne joined the SLFP Youth League and succeeded veteran Nanda Ellawala as the Youth Leader when the latter became an MP. In 1989, he had the privilege of entering parliament as a Ratnapura District MP together with Nanda Ellawala to serve the people.

From that point there was no turning back for Seneviratne as the masses of Ratnapura elected him to Parliament several times with a sizeable majority and, Minister Seneviratne now serves his people and the nation for the eighteenth year in succession.

Sporting a mellifluous smile, the mild hearted and strong minded, Minister John Seneviratne chose to respond in a calm and intellect manner to the following questions:

****

Q: Do you see a power crisis in the offing as climatic conditions look unfavorable for the generation of hydro power and also viewing the cost involved in generating other types of power?

A: I don't think the things in the power sector look alright. We got to see that the power requirement in the country is first fulfilled to meet the needs. 35 per cent of power is generated by hydro and the balance 65 per cent is petroleum or diesel. The price of diesel has been spiraling, particularly in the past few months.

Hence, the country has to pay a heavy cost to generate power that is essential for the country. When we consider the tariff that the people are ordered to pay, I must say that we are recovering a subsidised tax. It costs us Rs. 14 to generate one unit of power whereas we sell a unit at Rs. 10.80.

The power that is provided to the industrial sector of this country is further low in price. We charge them Rs. 8.20 per unit. That is because of the contribution they make to the economic development of the country.

They also got to compete in the market. If they close down, there will be a large number of people who would be thrown out of employment. Then it will have an adverse effect on the economy of the country. Therefore, certain concessions have to be offered to that sector. But now I believe the time has come to reconsider this measure that was given in order to facilitate the industrialists.

Now when we charge Rs. 10.80 per unit from the consumer, the difference in the rate the Ceylon Electricity Board buys diesel is paid by the government to the Petroleum Corporation. Therefore, the cost of generation of power is subsidised to a great extent.

Now, that the loss that CEB is going to incur next year and much talked today, is a fact that the CEB is entitled to raise tariff in keeping with the cost of production. But, if the tariffs are raised on par with the cost of production, the tariffs will be very high.

Then the people would not be able to pay that tax. Therefore, the government has taken over that burden. Hence, the CEB is not incurring a huge loss at present. If the government desists from meeting the subsidy, then the CEB will be compelled to take alternative measures to cover the cost.

Q: If the situation is that, why have the power sector delayed or ignored long term plans? For your information, Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama while commending your efforts to build a viable power sector to the country claimed that until you took over the sector, not a single mega watt had been added to the national grid from 1994. Do you think you could do something despite obstacles that are placed on your path?

A: Yes... we have failed to implement long term power generation plans of the CEB. We have failed to set up a single coal power plant, which is the cheapest source of power available in the world.

All the developed and developing countries have sought coal power because that is the cheapest other than hydro power. Since we have failed to meet the establishment of coal power plants, we are faced with this crisis situation.

Therefore, I as the Minister of Power and Energy on the instructions of President Mahinda Rajapaksa have embarked upon to set up the first coal power plant in Puttalam which will be commissioned in 2011.

At the same time we have taken steps to carry out the Upper Kotmale Hydro Power plant which shall generate 150 mega watts to be commissioned in 2010. Those are some of the urgent and cheapest sources of power generation under implementation at present.

We hope to expand the coal power generation projects by implementing the second and third stages. There are also plans under way to set up a coal power plant in Trincomalee as a joint venture with India.

We are already proceeding with the energy plant at Kerawalapitiya. We should add 200 mega watts of power to our national grid. It had not been done over the past years and there is a shortage of power to meet the increasing demand. In view of this situation, there is a prediction by engineers that there will be a power shortage from 2007 to 2011.

In 2011 we hope to commission the Norochcholai coal power plant which will generate 300 mega watts and by 2012 the second stage of that plant which will provide a further 300 mega watts.

Till then there will be a gap in the supply where we will not be able to meet the demand. The President wants an eight per cent development growth and we need to add more power.

For that to generate at least 200 mega watts, we will produce with heavy oil, a cheaper variety of diesel, which will cost Rs. 30-40 a litre, not as much as auto diesel.

The plants operated by auto diesel have become a big liability to the nation. The heavy oil plant is planned to set up for commissioning by 2009 will help to overcome the crisis in the offing from 2008 to 2011.

Q: Mr. Minister, with all these plans afoot, will you continue with plants that are white elephants or heavy burdens on the economy?

A: Yes...there is an urgent requirement for us to convert or close down some of the heavy costly plants that are in Kelanitissa because they are a big liability or white elephants to be described precisely. In order to close them down, we must have a cheaper source of power.

Also there are old plants like Laxapana, New Laxapana, Wimalasurendra that needs revamping. At present these plants cannot be stopped even for a day. If a plant is stopped for repairs, it might take five to six months.

Then we have no way to provide power through other means. Those are the problems we face at the moment. Therefore, the expansion of power on a long term basis is absolutely necessary in the context of the present situation.

Q: Tell me what went wrong in the planning of the power sector during the past twelve years as no steps were taken to add even a single mega watt to the national grid until you took over the ministry under the Rajapaksa administration?

A: The power sector was never organised since 1994 and I admit that fact was unfolded by Dr. Sarath Amunugama. The amount of power generation needed to the country was never organised since 1994.

The coal power plant should have commenced at least by 1995 and if that was done there would have been no power crisis at present. Only the Kukule hydro power plant was made effective and it supplied 82 mega watts. Other than Kukule, nothing was done to generate power. The CEB today is incurring losses because it is forced to generate power through auto diesel plants.

Q: Mr. Minister, there are massive protests against the Norochcholai and Kerawalapitiya power generation projects time and again. Have you been able to convince the people of the need for more power and the danger at hand of a possible crisis?

A: Yes... there were protests. What I did was to take my officials with me to those areas to speak to the religious dignitaries and the people to explain to them on the need to implement those projects. I did the same with regard to the Upper Kotmale project.

I spoke to Thondaman and visited those areas to speak and explain to the people. I sought the views of the people and told them the importance of those projects at national level. They expressed their solidarity.

Thereafter, we held seminars to Teachers, Government Servants and Pradeshiya Sabha Members and educated the public on the necessity of those plants. We were able to remove fear to a greater extent. There are some objections even at present but, that is very minute in nature. The people themselves are fast realising the necessity of these projects.

Q: Let us talk about the financial crisis in the CEB. Can you pull the CEB out from that crisis?

A: The CEB financial crisis had been there almost from the inception. Up to about 1997, the CEB is said to have some deposits of nearly Rs.500 to 600 million. With that too it had been running at a loss.

Now the position is the power demand is very high. In order to meet this demand, the CEB has to resort to methods of very expensive generation of power. That is one reason why the CEB is incurring a loss. It is a national venture very essential for economic development.

We cannot expect it to run at total profit. If we want to run it at total profit, we must allow the CEB to recover costs incurred to generate power. I told you that 65 per cent of power is generated by auto diesel, a very costly exercise. If the CEB is to recover that cost, there will be social repercussions.

Therefore, it is the duty of the Government to ensure that the tariff is maintained at an affordable rate. Under this situation, the CEB has to be subsidised by the Government.

Q: There is reported to be corruption at the top level in the CEB. How do you plan to combat corruption at that level?

A: Yes... much publicity has been given to such allegations because trade unions have been screaming from roof tops that high ranking officials at the CEB are resorting to corrupt practices. Whenever such allegations were reported to us, we have initiated investigations. The COPE in the recent past has probed certain corrupt acts in the CEB.

Steps have already been taken to seek the advice of the Attorney General with regard to the findings of the COPE. There are also cases which have been forwarded to the Bribery Department for investigation. I must say that effective steps had been taken to contain corruption at all levels.

Q: Now, Mr. Seneviratne let us move onto a political matter. You have just returned after holding the inquiry into your friend Mangala Samaraweera's disciplinary matter. Is there a serious crisis in the government following their exit?

A: No, I don't see such a crisis. It is unfortunate that a very senior member like Mangala Samaraweera decided to leave the Government. We entered Parliament together. I feel that he shouldn't have left the SLFP being an active member. That is my position.

Q: Lets go further into the political arena. How do you view the future of the Government with the JVP threatening to withdraw support?

A: Even without the JVP, the Government has been able to proceed. The JVP left the Government some time ago. But, the Government had been able to pass legislation in the House with good majority.

On occasions where the JVP joined hands with the UNP to defeat the Government on certain Bills, the Government had won by majority vote to pass those Bills. If the JVP is politically matured and wise, it should not try to defeat this Government because the UNP policy is diametrically different to the policy of the JVP.

Q: How confident are you of having the budget passed without the JVP support?

A: We are fully confident as even without the JVP, we have nearly 120 and we are very confident.