Colombo condominiums waste time in power connections
Several condominium constructions are facing long term undue delays owing to the continued sluggishness of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) in giving power connections on time, property developers complained.
This has affected the finishing work of several condominiums in Colombo and suburban areas as well as luxury housing constructions in the city, officials of leading construction companies complained.
Some of the condo purchasers who feel stuck after undue delays in building construction as a result of CEB’s failure in giving electricity connections are contemplating legal action against developers for breaching contract.
But according to legal experts, everything depends on the contract and purchase agreement. If the contract states that the developer is not responsible for delays, there is no remedy, they said.
Fighting a case against the contract in Courts could take years, which may even last longer than the delayed construction project, they emphasised.
However the condominium developers claimed that CEB was delaying the electricity connections for at least 50 to 60 apartment projects in Colombo and suburban areas even after making payments three months ago.
The number of days which a new business has to wait in order to get an electricity connection has been much longer and a long waiting in a list to get electricity is frustrating, several condo developers told the Business Times.
According to CEB sources, it takes 100 days or a little longer than three months for the electricity authorities to supply the connection from the date of application.
Wasting time in a waiting list for long periods to get electricity connections from the CEB after paying the initial cost amounting to Rs. 4.2 million up to Rs. 6 million was the most frustrating thing for a new condominium developer in Sri Lanka.
One condominium development project located in Colombo 5 was among those affected badly due to undue delay in CEB power supply at present, a spokesman of the aggrieved company said.
This developer has paid close to Rs.6 million to CEB in June 2018 to get an electricity connection to the property from CEB substation; he said adding that no action has been taken towards power supply as yet.
CEB needs to lay underground armoured cable and for this property the requirement was a 125m cable, he revealed.
He noted that CEB top officials informed the company that it doesn’t have this underground armoured cable in stock and they are in the process of ordering it.
“As the developer we are now not in a position to hand over the apartments to prepaid buyers which have an effect on our collection and settling the bank loan and interest,” he added.
The company representatives have met the CEB General Manager many times, relevant engineers and even wrote to Minister Ravi Karunanayake without success, he said.
The CEB has called tenders for the procurement of underground armoured cables and it will take another month to purchase the necessary stocks from the selected supplier, CEB spokesman Sulakshana Jayawardena told the Business Times.
Tender procedure normally takes time and the delay in giving electricity connections of this nature was unavoidable, he said adding that aggrieved developers could make a request from the CEB to fix electricity meters under the present circumstances to catch up the lost time.
This property developer has almost completed the construction work of the condominium which is to be the epitome of boutique, luxury living for its clients. It has 14 units including two penthouses.