Indian and Sri Lankan officials are yet to discuss the conversion of the proposed 500 MW power plant at Sampoor in Eastern Sri Lanka, the New Indian Express reported.
The authorities are yet to discuss, despite Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assurance to Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena in mid-May, that he will ask his officials to talk to their Lankan counterparts about it.
Informed sources has told Express, that while work on the coal-based plant has ground to halt, there have been no moves from either the Indian or the Lankan side to begin discussions on conversion to LNG.
“While the final decision will be taken at the highest political level in Delhi and Colombo, Indian officials are skeptical about the soundness of the Lankan proposal. LNG will be much costlier, they point out. At the moment, the world oil price is at the rock bottom, but it could skyrocket anytime making an LNG-based plant economically unviable. Besides, the consumer has to be heavily subsidized.
The Lankan market is too small to locate a large LNG terminal, though it is possible to have smaller terminals. Then again, to be economical, the terminal cannot be at Sampoor on the East Lankan coast, but on the Western coast closer to the West Asian oil fields. The power plant itself has to be relocated on the Western coast,” the article added.
