Mahaweli Authority to create 10,000 jobs

by Shirajiv Sirimane

The Mahaweli Authority would provide 10,000 employment opportunities to graduates within two years.

Director General, Mahaweli Authority, D.M.C. Dissanayake said that this would be carried out through self-employment projects which would be facilitated by the Authority.

He said the Authority would involve some of the graduates in ornamental fish production. "We would provide these graduates with land, financial assistance and technical guidance and also create a local and international market for them," he said.He said that this industry has great marketing potential and graduates would earn a high income through this project.

Dissanayake said dairy farming is the second self-employment project they would be offering the graduates. "Here too, the Authority would provide them with land as well as cattle imported from overseas," he said.

He explained that they are planning to create small dairies consisting of 25 cows each and a team of graduates would be assigned to manage it as a company. The Mahaweli Authority plans to create 50 such farms.

These mini companies can diversify and also create their own brand names and expand.

Similarly, large areas of land would be provided to graduates so that they could grow cash crops. "Once again, this would be run as a mini company," he said.

The Authority, under the instructions of Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva, is also planning to provide 25-acre blocks of land to graduates on a long-term lease for agriculture purposes. "Agriculture carried out under new techniques and using hybrid varieties can yield high income and our concept of forming mini companies can be applied here as well," Dissanayake said.

Similarly, land would be provided to graduates to grow fruit which would be bought by the Authority.

He said that they are also planning to open more Mahaweli sales outlets in main cities such as Colombo, Kandy, Gampaha, Kurunegala, Badulla and Galle which are to be managed by the graduates.

"The Mahaweli produce would be sold through these outlets," he said.

He also said that they are planning to export rice to Europe in two years under the Mahaweli brand name.

Mahaweli as a whole is South Asia's biggest development project and over the 25 years since its creation Rs. 98 billion has been invested with both local and foreign funds.

One must remember that this investment has been very prudent as it has generated electricity to the value of Rs. 481 billion. "We are planning to fix additional turbines at some of the reservoirs belonging to the Authority and will also provide logistics for the private sector to create mini hydro power.

"With these projects in place, we would be able to generate a unit of electricity for less than 50 cents," he said.

Under the recent tree plantation program in view of President Mahinda Rajapaksa's swearing-in ceremony, the Mahaweli Authority planted over 500,000 fruit tress.

"These would be nursed by the Mahaweli farmers and yields are expected in two years," he said.