Minister for international monetary co-operation Mr Sarath Amunugama said that Sri Lanka wants to swap debt to equity at some of its Chinese funded projects to reduce repayment pressure in the future.

Mr Sarath Amunugama said that Sri Lanka is in talks with China to swap the debt taken to build a coal power plant in Norochcholai in Northwest Sri Lanka. He added that "We are trying to negotiate it, starting with the Norochcholai project but move to others also.”

Mr Amunugama said that "If we can convert many of these loans to equity we will not only have financial benefit but also better management,"

The first 300 MegaWatt stage of the Norochcholai plant was built with 455 million dollars. The second stage of 600MW is financed with an 891 million dollar loan.

He said another coal plant built with India's NTPC is already structured as a joint venture with equity partnership.

(Sourced from www.lankabusinessonline.com)