If you take a loan and do not invest properly, you will have to pay the price painfully - Prime Minister

Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said that we would have to pay back the loan most painfully if we do not invest them properly. Addressing the gathering at the inauguration of "Ran Palassa" solid waste recycling center together with a renewable electricity project at Kaduwela Municipal Council on 21.02.2023, he added that overcoming a challenge requires planning and confidence. Similarly, one should have the strength to dedicate himself towards the achievement of that goal. The need of renewable electricity is immensely felt by the whole world including our country. We have been talking about this for a long time and that transformation should take place in no time.

“Although we have been steadily moving forward in the process of making the country economically stable in the last six months, as a country we are in a huge foreign exchange crisis and a dollar crisis, we still have a lot of burdens to carry forward. The initiative taken by the Mayor of Kaduwela Municipal Council and the team will be the first step to reduce that burden to some extent” he said.

Electricity Board is a major huge part of national development assets. A considerable proportion of the country’s electricity production is done with imported fuel at the expense of foreign exchange and it is a heavy burden.

Prime Minister pointed out that Kelani River has been flowing in this land for more than three thousand years. Although we thought that the production of environmentally friendly electricity costs a lot of money, we spend more than that to produce electricity using fuel in this way. This project started a difficult, but an affordable journey to change that procedure. It must have a plan, a goal, an objective and determination.

“We need a national solution to the problem of garbage omnipresence in and out of cities. In such a situation, by properly managing the chemicals present in the waste from food, the electricity that can be generated by Methane can be added to the electricity system at the end. It is a matter of pride for the whole country to succeed in that”, claimed the Prime Minister.

Solar power is another asset in Sri Lanka that has not yet been possible to reap the harvest properly. It has been proven by our own engineers that wind blowing across the country can be converted into electricity. But the implementation lags behind.

Prime Minister Gunawardena expressed confidence that we would be able to reduce this huge burden that we are carrying at present if we succeed in our goals to get into renewable electricity when we come to one hundred years of independence in another twenty five years.

“If you take a loan and do not invest it properly, you will have to pay the price bitterly. That is why we have to think again and again about borrowing and what the result would be. I convey my gratitude to the United Nations Development Program for supporting to share the benefits of development and new technology in this way” Premier concluded.

The occasion was graced by Maha Sangha including Venerable Malwane Pannasara Thero, Incumbent of Navagamuwa Rajamaha Vihara. Members of Parliament- Jayantha Katagoda, Premanath Dolawatta, Pradeep Udugoda, Madhura Withanage, Jagath Kumara and Yadamini Gunawardena were among the gathering.