SL’S largest independent power producer calls for depoliticisation of govt. tender procedures
„Says submitted the lowest bid for upcoming 300MW LNG plant „Says has capability to assist govt. to avoid costly emergency power purchases
LTL Holdings, which claimed to have submitted the lowest bid of US $ 160 million for the construction of 300MW liquefied natural gas (LNG) power plant in Kerawalapitiya, this week urged the authorities to think of the national interest when going ahead with the tender procedures.
The company therefore called for depoliticisation of the tender procedures.
“We always quote the lowest or the second lowest when bidding for the construction of power plants,” LTL Chief Operating Officer Dhammika Nanayakkara told a ceremony held on Wednesday to mark the 35th anniversary of LTL.
“We have been able to surpass the proposals made by a Japanese company and another company from China. Some, including one intellectual, who claimed to be an expert, had stated that a complex cycle power station cannot be operated using oil fire.
However, as of now, we have been able to save Rs.50 billion for the country using this technology,” he said.
He added that the company has the technology to change into LNG, if the need arises.
“We have the capability of assisting the government to save more funds through avoiding emergency power purchases, which is a costly affair,” he also said.
However, the company welcomed the offshore LNG import facility, which the government is planning to set with Japanese and Indian assistance.
LTL Holdings was established in 1980 by two young engineers—channa Amerasinghe and U.D. Jayawardena—who were at the time working at the transformer repair unit of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB).
At the time, only about 10 percent of Sri Lankan population had electricity, largely due to the substandard transformers, which were imported to the country.
Amerasinghe and Jayawardena, with the help of the CEB and several other young engineers, were able to open a factory to make transformers locally and supply them to the CEB, to replace the defective transformers, which required frequent maintenance; they were bought by the electricity utility through tenders.