Minister Amaraweera issued this directive at a conference held to discuss the possibility of a power crisis in the near future and measures to be taken to overcome it.“The conference held at the Petroleum Resources Ministry was attended by CEB, Public Utilities Commission and the Power and Energy Ministry officials,” a media release by the Power and Energy Minister said.

It was revealed at this conference that the country may face a possible power crisis by April and May 2020 which may even lead to power cuts. The main reason for it was the failure to add another 100 megawatts of electricity to the National Grid during the 2019-2020 period. It was also revealed that the CEB and the Power and Energy Ministry had failed to implement any solar power or wind power projects which could add additional capacity and steps had been taken to prevent the implementation of solar power networks during the past five years.

However, senior officials in the power sector pointed out that the National Electricity Act had been a major stumbling block towards any capacity addition and responding to this claim, Minister Amaraweera appointed a Committee headed by Ministry Secretary Mrs Vasantha Perera to study the Electricity Act and recommend amendments to any obnoxious clauses in it so that he could submit a Cabinet memorandum on the matter next week.