Sri Lanka to use pre-stressed spun concrete poles in rural electrification

  A Sri Lankan firm in collaboration with a Malaysian company will soon embark on a pre-stressed spun concrete pole project to replace old wooden poles being used as power line support in rural areas, Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) sources said.   Senaka Builders (Pvt) Ltd, a subsidiary of Senaka Group, has linked up with ZENN HRB SDN BHD of Malaysia to pave the way for a joint venture Senaka Zenn (Pvt) Ltd for the manufacture of pre-stressed spun concrete poles in Sri Lanka.   The factory has been set up on a 31 acre site in Balangoda in the Ratnapura District at a cost of US$10.3 million, Managing Director of the company, Senaka Gurusinghe told TimesOnline.   The project was considered after extensive discussions with the Ministry of Power and Energy, CEB and Lanka Electric Company (LECO), he disclosed.   Mr. Gurusinghe noted that his company is exploring the possibilities of a public private partnership with the CEB as well.   This joint venture company to produce pre-stressed spun poles will contribute to socio-economic development in the country because the country is working on infrastructure development, and the expansion of the rural electrification schemes, he pointed out.   The pre-stressed spun concrete poles are made of concrete with internal reinforcement, mainly used for more than 35 KV overhead transmission lines.   The CEB currently uses wood poles for supporting power lines to provide electricity to rural communities in hilly terrain in upcountry and remote rural areas in the south.   A senior CEB engineer told the Business Times that the hot and humid climate of the country leads to the growth of fungi and other destructive micro-organisms, thereby making wood poles subject to splits, cracks and other defects that permit the entry of fungi into the core of the pole unsatisfactory for use as power line supports.   These poles are expensive and entail considerable costs in transport. Further, importing any wood poles is not viable under the present circumstances as it has to be replaced from time to time, he added.   Large scale import of wood poles also eat into the country’s foreign exchange and replacing it with pre-stressed spun concrete poles has become an urgent priority at present, he disclosed.   These poles are intended to substitute wooden poles imported to the country at a cost of over Rs. 10 billion each year.   The life span of pres-stressed spun concrete pole compared with the wooden pole will be eight times greater whereas wooden poles need to be replaced every 10 to 12 years