The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has recruited and extended the services of several experts to assist in the reform process of Sri Lanka’s electricity sector.

Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera, on Wednesday (22 Nov.), met with officials of the reform secretariat, to discuss the next steps required to be followed for the reform process.

Accordingly, the Minister stated that ADB has recruited and extended the services of Dr. Pankaj Batra, former Chairman of the Central Electricity Authority of India to assist the Reform Secretariat on the National System Operator, along with Prof. Arosha Adikaram, Chair of the Human Resources Department, University of Colombo to assist on the Human Resource Management of CEB.

The services of ADB Executive Consultant Debasis Mohapatra, too was extended to consult on institutional strengthening. 
“We discussed the observations made by the President, Cabinet Ministers, Development Agencies such as ADB, JICA, World Bank, USAID, the inclusion of regulations necessary for a smooth transition, consumer protection laws, constitutional requirements, tariff regulations and amendments to the Sinhala draft bill necessary before gazetting & presenting in Parliament for approval”, Minister Wijesekera said in this regard, in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

On 21 November, the Cabinet of Ministers green-lighted the proposed bill for electricity sector reforms.