The U.S. Government has awarded a $ 560,000 grant to the Government of Sri Lanka to fund a technical assistance program for providing consultancy services on the development of a 300MW coal fired power plant. This grant was awarded to Sri Lanka through the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA).

Mr. James F. Entwistle, Chargé d'Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka, and
Mr. Charitha Ratwatte, Secretary of the Ministry of Finance,at the signing of a U.S. Government grant for
development of a 300 MW power plant in Sri Lanka.

The agreement extending the grant was singed by Mr. James F Entwistle, Charge d' Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka on behalf of the U.S. Government and Mr. Charitha Ratwatte, Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka, at the Ministry of Finance, Colombo.

Ambassador Devinda R Subasinghe said "I am pleased that the agreement for extending a technical assistance programme on the development of 300MW coal fired power plant was signed between the Government of Sri Lanka and the U.S. As discussed with Ms. Thelma Askey, Director TDA, I hope this is just the beginning of TDA assistance for many more projects in key sectors with potential for foreign investment in Sri Lanka. This grant and a few more in the pipeline, with undoubtedly, enhance bilateral trade and investment opportunities for US companies in Sri Lanka".

The Government of Sri Lanka has identified power generation as a priority sector for foreign direct investment. The electricity generating system is in transition from a predominant hydro power generated system to a mixed hydrothermal system. Technical Assistance Programme for providing consultancy services on the development of coal fired power plant is vital to Sri Lanka's efforts to diversify its power generation system. The present total installed capacity in Sri Lanka, is 1409 MW, of which the hydro power generated capacity is 1,137 MW. A 10 per cent annual growth in power consumption is forecast. In order to meet this demand, the country needs to generate an additional 1530 MW by year 2008. Therefore, Sri Lanka looks, increasingly at non-hydro power sources i.e., thermal and other renewable energy sources to be developed under private sector initiatives.

Embassy of Sri Lanka
Washington DC
USA

29 July 2003