Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Employment Arun Hemachandra to undertake an official visit to Ankara from 26-28 October 2026

Fearing sabotage President deploys army to protect power supply

President Maithripala Sirisena has ordered the army to be deployed to protect all installations connected to the National power grid, the?Power and Energy Ministry said. The move follows fears of attempts to sabotage the power sector resulting in Nationwide power cuts. The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) had said earlier that?damage caused to a transformer at the Biyagama receiving station following an explosion caused the island-wide power cut yesterday. The electricity was restored to the en

14 Mar, 2016

Power and Energy Minister refuses to accept Wijepala’s resignation

Power and Energy Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya says he has refused to accept the resignation letter of the?Chairman of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) Anura Wijepala following an unprecedented Nationwide blackout. The Minister said that the country needs the services of?Wijepala based on his knowledge and expertise and so his resignation letter has not been accepted at this moment. Wijepala had said that he will step down after the power-cut yesterday which lasted for over seven hours an

14 Mar, 2016

MR defends money borrowed when he was in power

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has defended the decision taken when he was in power to borrow money. Rajapaksa says his Government borrowed?money to build infrastructure projects, but these were long term concessional loans at 2% or less in interest. Furthermore he says such borrowings were spread out over many years?and that his Government?never borrowed for consumption like the present Government which is why he says there were no fiscal fiascos like sweeping revisions of budget proposal

14 Mar, 2016