Chinese wind turbine manufacturer (Sinosar-Etechwin) was awarded a contract worth Rs $12 million for implementing as a joint venture with the state-owned Ceylon Electricity Board as part of the Sri Lankan government’s Supporting Electricity Supply Reliability Improvement Project.
The report said that India had lodged a strong protest with the Sri Lankan government on the contract to the Chinese company days before the Sri Lankan government cancelled the contract for the Eastern Container Terminal.
There was no immediate comment from the Ministry of External Affairs. Sri Lankan sources said the contract had been awarded after inviting international bids and the Indian bid was not competitive.
Asian Development Bank will fund the project, which will come up on Delft, Nainativu and Analativu, three islands in the Palk Strait off Jaffna peninsula. Delft, the largest of the three islands, is the closest to Rameswaram, which lies to the island’s south west.
Between the two is Kachchativu, the tiny island that India ceded to Sri Lanka in 1974. The waters around these islands are an area of contest and rivalry between Tamil Nadu and Jaffna fishers. The matter has been on the bilateral agenda for decades.
Etechwin makes solar-wind integrated power generation systems.
The contract to Sinosar/Etechwin was approved by the Cabinet Standing Committee on Procurement on July 18, before Sri Lanka’s cancellation of the tripartite agreement with India and Japan on the development and operation of the Eastern Container Terminal at Colombo Port.
