May 31, Colombo: Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) dispatched a team of experts to Sri Lanka recently to initiate a three year technical cooperation project to improve energy efficiency in the country.

The "Project for Promoting Energy Efficiency Improvements (EEI)" which runs from May 2008 to March 2011 aims to establish and enhance the infrastructures necessary for materializing EEI activities within the country.

The JICA team was dispatched in connection with the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between JICA and the Sustainable Energy Authority (SEA) of the Ministry of Power and Energy on February 11th of 2008 with the intention of achieving high efficiency in energy consumption in the identified fields.

Within the projected period the project aims to improve the essential infrastructures such as rules and regulations, human resources, equipment and materials required for the successful implementation of the proposed SEA act, introduce incentive and disincentive mechanisms, and create mass consciousness among general public, private and government sectors on EEI activities as its key objectives.