IGNORING vehement protests by environmentalists, the Sri Lankan government has decided to go ahead with construction of a coal-fired thermal power plant in Trincomalee, on the island republic's eastern seaboard.

Ecologists have been objecting to the project ever since it was first proposed in 1987 by the Ceylon Electricity Board. Their opposition had caused it to be shelved twice, but supporters of the plant managed to get the project resurrected.

Environmentalists contend the proposed 33 MW plant would destroy the unique ecology of the Trincomalee region, pollute the air as far away as Colombo and over the tea plantations in the central highlands, affecting the crop.