Sri Lanka imposes power cuts after island-wide electricity failure

Colombo, Feb 10 (PTI) Sri Lanka is scheduled to undergo a 90-minute power cut on Monday and Tuesday following a breakdown in a coal power plant.

Ceylon Electricity Board, the state power entity, decided this on Monday given the shortage of supply owing to the failure at the 900-megawatt Norochcholai coal power plant in the northwestern region.

The Ceylon Electricity Board in a statement said the 90-minute rationing will be in two slots between 3 pm and 9.30 pm in different areas on both days.

The statement said Sunday's sudden power outage forced the operations at Lakvijaya power station to shut.

Sri Lanka on Sunday experienced an island-wide power outage for nearly 6 hours due to a tripping of a Colombo suburb grid station when a monkey came in contact with it.

This will be the first power rationing since August 2022 when the country plunged into an economic crisis, leading to a shortage of essential commodities including fuel and power.

Forex shortages caused 12-hour power cuts with long queues for fuel and essentials.

This triggered street protests between April and July 2022, forcing then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country and later resign.

A USD 4 billion credit line from India helped Sri Lanka in recovery efforts. PTI