Projects keep to deadlines:

Sri Lanka bustling with development

The Government has embarked on several massive development projects to meet future challenges.

Despite spending large sums of money for the successful battle against terrorism, to free the entire country from LTTE terror, the Government, under the leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, has not forgotten development to take the country to greater heights.

While rescuing over a half a million people from the clutches of the LTTE terror and uniting the nation against one flag, the Government has also spent billions of rupees on mega development projects. Among the major projects implemented by the Government are, Upper Kotmale Hydropower project, Hambantota Port project, Kerawalapitiya Power plant project, the Southern Highway, Norochcholai Power project, Moragahakanda Reservoir and the Southern Airport project. The Southern Highway is the first major highway to be built in Sri Lanka post independence. The 128km highway will join Colombo with Galle and Matara on the South coast. Every 10 to 15km it will connect to the existing road network, providing access to the entire south west region. The new highway will cut the journey time from four hours to one and a half hours, thus boosting economic activity and the regeneration of the South.

The first phase of Hambantota Port project is scheduled to be completed in three years and three months. In an attempt to reduce costs, the port will be built inland in the Karagan Levaya lagoon.

A sum of US$ 360 million will cost the first phase including two small break-waters, a cargo terminal and an oil and gas terminal. The port will have a 17 meter draft when completed and be able to accommodate the largest ships. 1,115 hectares acquired by the government for this project will displace around 450 families who be compensated for having to relocate.

Moragahakanda project Pix: ANCL Photo Library

Upper Kothmale Hydropower project

Kerawalapitiya Power Plant

Southern Highway

Hambantota Port

The port will be able to handle 20 million containers in its 11km of berths a year compared to the present one which can handle only 4 million containers a year. There is also a gas-fired power plant and a petroleum storage facility planned within the complex, and will be equipped with shipbuilding capacity and repair yards nearby as well.

Hambantota is six nautical miles from the mail east-west shipping routes in the Indian Ocean, and the dry climate will facilitate easy operations around the clock.

Sri Lanka will have its second international airport in the Southern province. Environmental approval has been granted to the new proposed international airport at Mattala in Hambantota District. The new airport is scheduled to be opened in 2011.

The airport, which would fill a big void, would be constructed on 800 hectares of bare land and with an investment of Rs. 22 billion with foreign funding.

The airport, in the first stage, would consist of one runway and a taxiway and under the second stage it would be expanded allowing bigger aircrafts like A380s to land.

The airport would be constructed under a green concept and would be eco-friendly with several lakes and green landscape, according to the Chairman, Airport and Aviation Services, Prasanna J. Wickramasuriya. What is unique in the Mattala International project is that Sri Lanka engineers have been entrusted to do the designing and implementation of the project, thus saving valuable foreign exchange to the country.

Subsequent to President Mahinda Rajapaksa's recent visit, Libya has shown keen interest to invest in the project while several other financing methods too have been formulated.

The airport, in its first five years of operations would primarily focus on cargo operations in line with the Hambantota harbour which would be opened during the same time.

Sri Lanka will also strengthen its power generation to the National Grid through hydropower with the implementation of the Upper Kotmale Hydropower Project. The UKHP is a run of river hydropower project with an installed capacity of 150MW (consisting of two 75MW units) and it will produce 409GWh per year.

A dam located close to the town of Talawakelle with a height of 35.5m and a crest length of 180m. It will have a gross storage of 2.5 MCM with an effective capacity of 0.8 MCM with a surface area of 0.25km2 (60 acres).

Full supply level for the reservoir will be 1,194 metres above mean sea level (msl), the minimum operating level will be 1,190m msl and the normal tail water level 703m msl.

A headrace tunnel 4.5m/5+.2m in diameter lined and unlined and 12.89km in length, running north from the dam towards the Pundal Oya Falls before turning to the northwest towards the existing Kotmale dam and reservoir.

To meet future demand for power, Sri Lanka has launched a mega Coal Power Project at Norochcholai.

Once completed, the power plant will have a total gross generating capacity of 900 MW. After discounting for the in-house consumption and losses in transmission, the power plant would provide about 850 MW of capacity to the national grid.

The power plant would help Sri Lanka reduce the use of the most expensive power plants in its system: CEB system has four power plants burning auto diesel, adding up to about 600 MW.

They will be the first to be curtailed. Then the next group of power plants using fuel oil will be curtailed. All hydropower plants except Kukule and Ukuwela will move to operation only at the evening peak hours.

Kukule and Ukuwela have no reservoirs, and they will run always when water is available.

Now that the Security Forces have eradicated terrorism, portion of funds allocated for defence too could be spent on development. The Government is keen to develop infrastructure facilities to meet future challenges.