Five years of development - Moneragala:

In full throttle after kick-start

by Shirajiv Sirimane in Moneragala

Weheregala reservoir project

A culvert being opened by Minister Pushpakumara in the Monaragala district

A water purification project

Road development in progress. Pix by Shirajiv Sirimane

Hambantota, North East and Moneragala districts, at one time, were some of the most underprivileged districts in virtually, ignored by successive governments of the past.

Thanks to the initiatives taken by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Hambantota got itself a kick start and with the ending of the war the districts in the North East too followed on.

Moneragala, the second largest district in the country did witness a spark of development during the Gam Udawa era.

Since then it was the private sector that initiated development in the area with Pelwatte Sugar taking the initiative going ahead to renovate the abandoned sugar cane factory and bringing about development to the area.

Pelwatte Sugar Company has now decided to reinvest again by establishing one of the largest milk processing plants in Sri Lanka, with an investment of Rs 1.8 billion. The plant will have the capacity to collect 150,000 litres of milk per day, benefiting over 20,000 farmer families.

The government on its part to usher development to the area, recently launched one of the biggest development projects, Uma Oya Multipurpose Project to construct two reservoirs on the tributaries of the Uma Oya river and one tunnel on the river bed itself to divert water to a power house further downstream. Once completed, the project will have the capacity to generate 90 mw of electricity and irrigate 5,000 hectares of agricultural land.

The project is estimated to cost US$16 billion. The Government of Sri Lanka is financing the project with US$450 million from Iran.

Although the district is situated in a wet intermediate climatic zone, 70% of the areas in the district possess a dry zone environment. In a bid to provide water for farming the second major project, Weli Oya scheme too has been initiated.

Sri Lanka’s first solar power-enabled village has been established at Galgamuwa at Madulla in the Moneragala district.

Under the project solar power facilities have been provided to 300 houses in the village.

The Ministry of Power and Energy says the government of India has provided a grant in this regard. The project is implemented under the government’s renewable Energy Development Programme with the objective of supplying electricity for remote villages in the country.

In addition, education, water supply and road development too were the priorities with several gravel roads converted to concrete roads and the major roads being re-laid.

The allocation of funds for educational development was Rs. 3,238,557 while Rs. 1,095,271 invested for electricity supplies. Road development budget allocation was Rs. 852,710 while Rs. 8,043,455 was spent on water supply schemes. Under the Gama Neguma Project too was successfully implemented in the area.

Minister of Nation Building, Jagath Pushpakumara said that rural electrification is one of their priorities as the district had only a 7 percent penetration. “Within the last four years we have increased the rural electricity supply to 70 percent and in two years the entire district would have electricity,” he said.

He said that they are also working closely with foreign countries to usher development to the area. Recently the Japanese government granted Rs. 10 million for an agricultural and livelihood project in Moneragala to improve the living standards of the people.

These two projects will improve the living standards of 1,000 targeted families.

He said that another problem faced by the community is the wild elephant menace. “We are in the process of constructing an elephant corridor and 60 percent of it is completed,” he said.

Further a sum of Rs. 2,857,500 was provided for housing development activities with the objective of alleviating the housing problem.

Weheragala reservoir built using 100 percent local talents and commissioned by the President last year too is an important milestone in the development of the Moneragala district.

The reservoir will release 8.5 cubic metres of water per second through its southern sluice-gate additionally providing 60 million cubic metres of water to the Kirindi-Oya project annually benefiting around 6,000 families who are dependent on the Kirindi-Oya waters.

The Weheragala Reservoir Project will provide water to cultivate 25,000 acres of paddy in both Yala and Maha seasons for farmers in Kataragama, Tissamaharama, Lunugamwehera and adjoining areas. Waters released is expected to help in alleviating the scarcity of drinking water especially in the sacred city of Kataragama as well.

The reservoir is the third largest project of its kind after the Mahaweli and Kirindi Oya mega development projects.

The project has been completed utilizing less than the total estimated cost of Rs. 1,900 million.

The largest Samadhi statue (67.5 feet) is also being built, at Moneragala viharaya, Rambodagalla.

The Minister said that they were pleased about the rapid development activity taking place in Hambantota especially with the Airport and Harbour.

“The benefits of these two projects will definitely filter to Moneragala as well bringing numerous economic benefits to residents,” he said.