Udaya Gammanpila, Minister of Energy says that the diesel and petrol ships that were agreed to be paid yesterday will have enough fuel for a very limited number of days, even though a fuel tanker arrives in Sri Lanka every week.
“The Governor of the Central Bank has agreed to provide the required dollars to the two ships currently in the middle of the sea”
Question – How long does that fuel last?
“Very limited number of days. There’s diesel sufficient for 8 days and the amount of petrol will be enough for 6 days. A diesel ship and a petrol tanker arrive every week. That’s why there’s always a ship in the middle of the sea. That’s not always the same ship. One ship will be released and it will take another two or three days to release the next ship. ”
Q. Minister, what about the power cuts then?
“I don’t know whether there will be power cuts or not. The Minister of Power and Energy is the authority ”
Q. Many power plants have stopped now because of the lack of fuel?
“We supply fuel according to a plan. The President also accepted it. There was a mistake in their plans. According to their plans, we provided fuel, but there had been something wrong with those plans. That is why those power plants have had to be shut down ”
inister Udaya Gammanpila was speaking to the media after leaving a meeting chaired by President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa yesterday (24).