A visit to upper Kotmale

by Jayampathy JAYASINGHE

We arrived at the Upper Kotmale Hydropower reservoir dam having travelled via Avissawella, Yatiyantota, Karavenella, Kitulgala after staying overnight at Lindula. The downpour that lashed across Keleni Valley, the Central and Sabaragamuwa provinces on the previous night was a welcome sign to drought stricken farmers in those areas. The other benefit was that heavy downpours also fill hydropower reservoirs in the Central province.

At the dam site at the Upper kotmale several Backhoe and Caterpillar machines were churning up huge mounds of earth at the mouth of the tunnel across a mountain. Experts say that this is the longest tunnel ever being built in Sri Lanka covering a distance of 13 kilometres. As we got closer to the dam site we could hear the drone of drilling machines at work. There were several of them at work inside the tunnel. The dam is located in the Southern and the Central mountainous region of Nuwara-Eliya district. It covers the upstream of Kotmale reservoir on the Kotmale Oya, a tributary of the Mahaweli Ganga.

The waters of the Kotmale river will be diverted from a height of 900 feet through a tunnel (about 13 kilometres long) and driven to the powerhouse at the bottom of the foothill where two turbines will be installed.

Spouts of water streaming

The water gushing down through a tunnel pipe will turn the turbines generating electricity. The underground powerhouse is located close to Niyamgandora, a village in the Kotmale area. A visit to the tunnel where it was being dug beneath a mountain was a frightening experience. As a safety precaution we all wore headgear and travelled in a van for about quarter of a mile inside the tunnel which was in pitch darkness. Only the headlights of the vehicle shone in the darkness that enabled us to travel. We could see spouts of water streaming along the tunnel walls as we proceeded. Having travelled nearly 500 metres we alighted from the van and walked the distance until we came upon a man made platform. From there we could see almost 600 feet below a flurry of activity. CEB Engineers and their workforce were attending to work on the spot where the giant turbines were to be installed.

The Project Director of the Ceylon Electricity Board, Shavindranath Fernando explaining details of the project to the Sunday Observer said that 21 displaced families have been re-settled and a further 350 families are to be re-settled when the Kotmale project is completed in July-August 2011.

The entire cost of the project will be borne by the loan granted to the Ceylon Electricity Board by Japan on concessionary terms. The Kotmale project is expected to generate about 150 megawatts which will be fed in to the national grid.

He said electricity generated from this project will bring down the cost of a unit on the sliding scale from Rs. 2.70 to cents 90 as time goes by.

"We are very much concerned about the environment and steps have been taken not to release any sediments to the river. We have planted around one hundred thousand plants to mitigate the ill effects caused to the environment by the project." The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) had to encounter numerous problems when constricting the dam due to the pressure exerted by various political parties and Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) who had a vested interest. An exhaustive environmental assessment was done by the Central Environmental Authority and other agencies before the project commenced, he said.

1194 feet deep

We then proceeded 2 kilometres and arrived at the spot where they were grilling the tunnel to lay the turbines. We met the CEB's Civil Superintendent, Chryshantha Fernando who showed us the Dam site and the spot where the river water will enter the gigantic tunnel 13 kilometres long. "So far we have dug about 2.5 kilometres of the tunnel. "He said the river was diverted temporarily to allow the construction of the dam which stands at 1196 feet above the sea level. He said the water will fill the dam up to 1194 feet and when it goes beyond that the spill gates will be opened for the water to escape."

The other important aspect of the project is the re-settlement of displaced families when dam waters swallow their abode. The families who live in the locality are poor estate labourers. All these years they had been living in unhygienic linerooms.

We then visited the Rathneelakelle village at the Holyrood estate we found cottage - like houses built for these people. The houses are equipped with water and electricity, a pantry and a toilet.

Ceylon Electricity Board's Assistant Re-Settlement officer of the Upper Kotmale, Sarath Wimalweera said a total of 495 - houses will be built for displaced families in areas of Talawakele Estate, Walkers Settlement village, Kumaragama village, Rathneelakelle, Derenipura village, Middle town, UC settlement, Logi Esatate, Talawakele Nau-Oya estate.

But in Rathneelakelle alone 117 houses have been built. When the project is completed 495 houses, 33 shops, 6 workshops, 6 libraries, 2 churches, 3 kovils will be built across the resettlement sites. We then met A. Mahendramma, a mother who will now occupy a newly built home. Her house is located on a 7 perch. She said she was happy with the newly allocated home.