Kalpitiya Integrated Tourism Resort Project:

Kalpitiya on world tourism map soon

By Dhaneshi YATAWARA

Migratory fishermen in Palliyawatte island

Minister Basil Rajapaksa handing over the signed agreement to the investors

Architect’s vision of Vellai island resort

Located in the Northwestern coastal line of Sri Lanka, Kalpitiya was once a destination that was beyond our reach due to thundering artillery threats from marauding terrorists. Yet today the tranquil beach of Kalpitiya is regaining its lost distinction. Kalpitiya though dry and arid like Mannar, is like a far far away land where isolation blends with the gracefulness of nature.

Kalpitiya is one of the reasons that made Sri Lanka a biodiversity hotspot. The scenic beauty of Kalpitiya and its exotic climate is the ideal to quench the wander thirst of a travel freak. Kalpitiya is going to get a touch of beauty in the days to come. It is becoming a destination in itself name.

Making of a paradise

Tapping priceless natural resources with conservation in mind, the Economic Development Ministry has begun implementing the Kalpitiya Integrated Tourism Resort Project launched in 2007. The project establishes the Kalpitiya tourist zone which spreads across over 5,000 acres of land in the 14 islands located in the Dutch and Portugal bays of the Kalpitiya Lagoon.

Following a tedious technical evaluation two investors having partnerships with Sri Lankan companies were selected by the Government to invest in developing two islands in 2009.

Lease agreements were signed on August 11 and September 2, 2010 to lease the Vellai and Ippanthivu islands. The investment of Rs. 1,750 million will build five star hotels with 200 luxurious rooms. Seventeen islands located in the Puttalam lagoon will be developed in the second phase.

The heavy task of safely blending the environment with tourism in Kalpitiya under this integrated project is operated by the Ministry of Economic Development under the direct purview of Minister Basil Rajapaksa.

"This will be a well planned tourism project," said Director of the Kaplitiya Integrated Tourism Resort Project, Saman Nawaratne. "We hope to make Kalpitiya a destination of its own like the Bali island in Indonesia. Tourists say they are visiting Bali instead of saying Indonesia. That is the level we want Kalpitiya developed to," Nawaratne said.

All hotels will have yacht marinas, water sports centre, golf course and gaming resorts, leisure resort, spa and Ayurveda resort, camping and caravan locations, eco-resorts, under water worlds, caretaker resorts, bird sanctuaries, aquariums, nature museums and water parks.

The Vellai island has its own characteristics. During high tide the single island divides into three. "Assessments were done to evaluate the sensitivity of the environment of these islands prior to project implementation," said Nawaratne. He said that electricity will be provided up to Uchchamunai island.

Project Director Saman Nawaratne

Inhabitants of these islands are the migratory fishing communities. Under the project they will receive new facilities to continue their fishing industry and they will not be obstructed in carrying out their traditional livelihood activities.

Integrated development

The road network will also be improved in the efforts to upgrade the living standards of fishing communities. According to Nawaratne part of the investment is directed towards upgrading the infrastructure of the selected islands. "As for the Vellai island the investors has to spend nearly Rs. 20 million according to the agreement signed," Nawaratne said. The investor to develop the Ippantivu island has agreed to invest Rs. 60 million within 90 days. "It is stated in the agreement that it will be invalidated if the investors fail to meet this requirement as agreed," he said.

The project intends to create 15 direct job opportunities and priority will be given to locals as well as people from the North Western and North Central provinces. "The project predicts 45,000 indirect job opportunities giving rise to economic development in the locality as well as to areas of the North Western and North Central provinces," Nwaratne said.

Suitable employees for the tourism and hotel industry will not be available within Kalpitiya and investors will have to expand there search to areas like Kurunegala and Chilaw.

Conserving nature

The project will be a failure without a secured marine environment. Understanding this aspect, agreements between the Government and the investors highlight the importance of all possible measures to protect and conserve the environment. This wonderful creation of mother nature cannot be recreated by man under any circumstances.

"This development work as scheduled will actually conserve and beautify the environment which is at the moment heavily polluted," Nawaratne explained. "The unplanned prawn farming in the lagoon is severely exploiting the mangroves destroying the environment," he said.

"The project will never annihilate the rights of the migratory fishermen. Actually we will reserve areas of these islands for these communities, especially in the islands they now mostly use," he added. The number of fishing communities differ from season to season. According to Nawaratne investors do not own the beaches the Agreement empowers them only with land management.

Strengthen regulations

As numbers of scenic places get upgraded as tourist destinations more people will travel to all them and we will need regulations to conserve the fragile nature. According to Director General for Wildlife, Botanical and Zoological Gardens of the Economic Development Ministry Dr. Chandrawansa Pathiraja, discussions are in progress to strengthen nature protecting rules and regulations covering the loopholes in the existing framework.

"We need to bring amendments to the existing rules and regulations to conserve nature and avoid human activities polluting the environment.

People need to interact more with nature and we need to provide space for that especially for local and foreign tourists. But at the same time we cannot loose the environment. That is where the regulations play a major role," Dr. Pathiraja said.

Bar reef

Silky beaches are not the only attraction in Kalpitiya. Extending northwards from the Karaitivu island the Bar reef marine sanctuary situated west of Kalpitiya is the other main attraction. It is rich in bio-diversity with many species of corals, fish, invertebrates. The adjacent Puttalam lagoon is a dynamic ecosystem with many islets and a shoreline fringed with patches of mangroves and sea grass beds in the shallow parts.

The Bar reef and its surroundings are inhabited by different species of marine mammals and sea turtles. Among the marine mammals the Bar reef is one of the few areas of Sri Lanka where we can still see the dugong. The dugong is an endangered species and in Sri Lanka it can only be seen in the coastal waters of Mannar and Puttalam.

Whales and dolphins inhabit the adjacent deeper waters of the Bar Reef. These waters are frequented by blue whales, sperm whales, melon headed whales, spinner dolphins and bottlenose dolphins.

The Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins being a coastal species can be seen only in waters around the Bar reef.

Stepping on to the silk sandy beaches it will remind you what Gerald Gould once said in his poem 'Wander Thirst' "It works in me like madness to bid me say goodbye; For the seas call, and the stars call, and oh! The call of the sky!" Indulging one's self in the salty wetness of the Kaplitiya beaches really do work like madness making it difficult to say good bye.

As Gould continues to say in the poem you will only be able to blame the stars, the sun, the sky and the roads while departing from the islands of Kalpitiya.

"Yonder the long horizon lies, and there by night and day

The old ships draw to home again, the young ships sail away

And come I may, but go I must, and if men ask you why,

You may put the blame on the stars and the sun,

And the white road and the sky."