Coal power plants Work to begins

The Government will construct the second and third coal power plants at Welvur and Sampur areas in Trincomalee by the middle of this year. The Ministry of Power and Energy sources said.

The Sampur power plant with a capacity of 1,000 Mega Watts will be constructed in June with Indian Government assistances. Construction will be handled by NTPC India and the entire project will be supervised by the Ceylon Electricity Board.

Over 300 acres of land have already been acquired for this. Power and Energy Minister W.D.J. Seneviratne has requested officials to commence construction activities immediately after the conclusion of surveying which will be complete by April end. This 99.2 per cent environmental pollution free power plant will consume 1.1 million tons of coal which will be imported annually.

There will also be a Naval Jetty at Sampur to unload coal from ships. Around 4,000 youth in the area will get direct employment under this project, Ministry sources said