Jan 09, Colombo: The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) says that the operation of coal power plants has also become problematic due to the current dollar shortage.

CEB chairman, MMC Ferdinando has said that the immediate reason was the lack of dollars to buy coal. He said that when tenders were called for the importation of coal, no one would come forward.

Due to the decrease in the revenue received by the Ceylon Electricity Board, a situation has arisen that it cannot make payments to the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation for oil. Therefore, it is no longer possible to provide fuel on loan Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila stated yesterday.

Chairman of the Ceylon Electricity Board MMC Ferdinando stated that the CEB has not received the dues for the past two years. However, the Ceylon Electricity Board has always made efforts to provide uninterrupted power supply, he added.