Uma Oya multi-purpose project adds to Govt's development:

Moneragala, Hambantota farmers benefit

By P. Krishnaswamy

Residential Camp

Engineers' dormitory

The Iran-funded Rs. 76,316 million Uma Oya multi-purpose development project will be completed in four years marking another important milestone in the far-reaching Water Resources Development Programs of the Government to ensure increased agricultural productivity and food security of the people. This will be one more unique project that will add to the many other major development-oriented reservoir, hydro power and irrigation projects undertaken by the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources Management.

While bringing 15,000 acres of land under cultivation, the project will generate 120 MW of power at low cost, considerably offsetting the production cost of power. Another important feature of the project is that the tunnel is 15.65 km long, the longest ever to be constructed under any major hydro power or reservoir project in the country. Its internal diameter is 4.5 metres, Project Director Dr. (Eng.) N.S.K.N. de Silva told the Sunday Observer.

He said the project will considerably resolve the drought problem annually experienced by the farmers of Moneragala and parts of the Southern Province, while also providing clean drinking water, benefiting a large number of agricultural families and other resident families in the area. The objective of the project is "trans-basin diversion of 145 MCM of water from the Uma Oya basin to the Kirindi Oya basin to alleviate the water scarcity in the Southern Dry Zone without affecting the water users and the environment in the Uma Oya basin and generate electrical energy using the potential between the two basins".

"While increasing agricultural productivity and generating hydro power, the project will work tpwards providing drinking water to the Moneragala and Hambantota districts, livestock and inland fisheries development, increase in water spread area and improvement in ground water table, employment opportunities to several thousands of skilled and unskilled and knowledge transfer of modern technology.

Officers' Camp

Main Access Tunnel

TBM Access Road

Dyraaba Access Road under construction

Of the total cost of Rs. 76,316 million, the Export Development Bank of Iran (EDBI) will provide Rs. 511,750 million, with a grace period of 5 years, repayment period of 10 years at an interest rate of LIBOR + 0 percent which is the lowest interest rate ever in project funding. For the other costs, including Down Stream Development Works in the Kirindi Oya basin, the government is providing Rs. 15,474 million. Rs. 9,091 million will be spent on down stream development which include the constructions of new storage reservoirs at Alikota Ara and Kuda Oya, augmentation of the Handapanagala reservoir, network of main and distribution canals (77 km), improvement of 14 minor tanks, development of new lands (4,500 ha) and augmentation of existing lands (1,500 ha), which is handled by the engineers of the Irrigation Department.

Rs. 3,000 million will be spent on acquisition of lands for resettling the families that will be displaced under the project and for their rehabilitation. The Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Management Nimal Siripala de Silva pointed out at a recent media conference on reservoir and irrigation projects undertaken and completed under the UPFA Government that environmental concerns over bio-diversity and the fauna, the long feasibility study process, its approval by the authorities concerned, resettlement of families being displaced under the projects and obtaining the services of surveyors due to their limited availability are major problems, that the Government encountered.

The Irrigation Department and the other departments under the purview of his ministry had already completed several major projects. Obtaining land deeds for the resettled families in the Mahaveli resettlement areas too is a long and difficult process, he said. Of 100,000 such families, land deeds so far have been issued to 31,000 families while deeds to the remaining 69,000 families are yet to be issued, he said.

The Minister told the media that the Rs. 6.7 billion Deduru Oya Reservoir project in the North-Western Province and the large Maduru Oya project in the Eastern Province will be completed in March 2013 and all other projects under implementation will be completed on or before schedule. While farmer families, who comprise the bulk of the population, will directly benefit under the projects, all other families in the rural areas will indirectly benefit, under these projects, he said. The benefits to them include road networks, other infrastructure, improved transport, better health and educational facilities.

Considerable headway has been made on dam projects undertaken by the Irrigation Department after mid 2010. Contracts were awarded and the percentage of work completed as at, October 2012 on the 13 dam projects are: Parakrama Samudraya (96 percent), Inginimitiya (90 percent), Kantale (77 percent) Tabbowa (65 percent), Usgala - Siyabalangamuwa (70 percent), Nachchaduwa (55 percent), Ridiyagama (61 percent), Minneriya (54 percent), Tissawewa (21 percent), Nuwarawewa (27 percent), Huruluwewa (50 percent), Giritale (70 percent) and Kaudulla (72 percent). 100 percent work on the Dambulu Oya and Kandalama dams under the Mahaweli Athority (MASL). 90 percent work on Bowatenne, 80 percent on Chandrikawewa and 90 percent on Dambulu Oya and Kandalama (E&M Works) under the MASL has also been completed while headway has been made on the MASL's remaining five dam projects. 100 percent work has been completed on the Kalatuwawa Dam under the National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWS&DB). 50 percent work has been completed on the Canyon Laxapana and Norton dams under the Ceylon Electricity Board.

Many reservoir-cum-hydro-power projects started under the UPFA Government in the recent years are solely handled by engineers of the Irrigation Department. In recognition of their engineering feats, many countries, especially countries in West Africa, have offered them projects and they are already working on these projects, Minister de Silva said.

The Dam Safety and Water Resources Planning Project (DSWRP) with the objective of improving the development and management of water resources within the country, reducing water induced hazards to the public, and enhancing effectiveness of water related investments is also being implemented with IDA/World Bank Credit of Rs. 7,586 million and the Government's contribution of Rs. 602 million, he said.

"2020, the irrigation sector will become a key driving force on agricultural development with the supply of water in adequate, equitable and reliable quantities and in a sustainable, efficient and eco-friendly manner. Throughout the history of Sri Lanka, water has played a key role in the development of the country and the economic status of its people, and in shaping its culture and the tradition. For more than 2500 years, our civilisation, which developed on the basis of irrigation technology, inherited a legacy of unsurpassed know-how in the technology of building tanks and irrigation canals, it was pointed out.