Jan 05, Colombo: The construction work of the Norochcholai Power Plant in North Western Sri Lanka is facing another problem as the Ceylon Electricity Board unions are threatening to paralyze its construction.

Ananda Nimalarathna, convener of the joint forum for electricity unions pointed out that the government is planning to hand over the maintenance and operations of the power plant to Lanka Coal Limited. According to the unions this will be the first step of privatizing the Norochcholai Power Plant.

However the Secretary of the Ministry of Power and Energy said the government has not taken a final decision on this issue and it is still considering the possibility of handing over to Lanka Coal Limited.

The construction work for the 300 MW coal fired thermal power plant with infrastructure for a 900 MW power plant had started in 2006 amid heavy resistance from the Catholic community of the area.

The successful completion of this project will enhance the capacity of the national grid of Sri Lanka with an expected output of 1658 Gwh of annual energy at distribution level for delivery to consumers.

Sri Lankan government expects to generate electricity from the Norochcholai power plant in Kalpitiya peninsula off the Northwestern coast in the country by the year 2010.