Project Period – February 2020 – February 2021
Funded by– Ramsar Regional Center – East Asia
The Norochcholai Coal Power Plant (NCPP) is located in the village of Narakkalli and Penaiyadi nearNorochcholai, within the Puttalam District, on the West coast of Sri Lanka. The power plant was proposed by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) in 1995 and construction of the facility began in2007. It was constructed in 3 phases and completed by September 2014 with a total power generation of 900 MW, with a new 300MW extension approved to be added before 2023.
NCPP poses irreversible grave impacts to the health, safety, and livelihoods of surrounding communities and causes irreparable damage to the environment, both land, and sea, a few of which are highlighted below. The impact is however not limited to its immediate vicinity as the toxic emissions travel to other parts of the island as well. To investigate the negative effects of the power plant on the surrounding environment, experts on soil, ground and surface water and ambient air are conducting studies and running tests on the quality of the said parameters. In terms of the human health that is equally affected by the NCPP, a pre-medical survey was carried out to investigate health implications arising from the power plant and to identify prevalent morbidities in the neighboring communities.
