Project to control floods in Colombo

by Ranil WIJAYAPALA

The Disaster Management Ministry is to come up with projects worth billions of rupees this year to improve Sri Lanka's capacity to face major disasters by making changes in the institutions under it and by implementing diverse projects to mitigate floods and landslides, Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Amaraweera told the Sunday Observer.

A project to control floods in Colombo will be launched at a cost of Rs.8 billion under the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development with the Land Reclamation and Development Corporation as the implementing agency. Minister Amaraweera said that a project costing Rs.1 billion to improve the weather forecasting capacity of the Meteorological Department by installing new equipment and improving human resources is expected to get off this year once the External Resource Department obtains foreign funding for the project.

"If we can improve the capacity of the Met Department to give an accurate weather forecast it will help personnel from many sectors to plan their future activities", the Minister added.The Ministry has also prepared a landslide mitigation project costing US $ 50 million to be implemented in landslide prone areas expects foreign funding for the project."We hope that we will get funding for the project very soon and implement this project which aims at minimizing deaths due to landslides at least by 80 percent", Minister Amaraweera added.

Minister Amaraweera also said that an Act will also be presented soon to elevate the current Disaster Management Centre to the status of an Authority.