Five donors for Moragahakande, Kalu Ganga project

by Jayampathy JAYASINGHE

A mountain being dug to link the Moragahakanda - Naula road

Heavy earth moving machines at work at the Moragahakanda and Kalu-Ganga Projects.

The Director General of the Mahaveli Authority, Dharmasiri S. de Alwis briefing delegates from the OPEC, Saudi and Kuwait funds on the progress of Moragahakanda and the Kalu-Ganga project.

The Moragahakande and Kalu Ganga Development Project is expected to be completed shortly with funding from the Saudi, Kuwait and OPEC organisations. A delegation from these funding agencies had visited Sri Lanka recently to discuss their financial commitment to the project. A board decision in this regard will be taken by the funding agencies in December, the Director General of the Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka Dharmasiri S. de Alwis said.

He said the estimate of the two reservoir projects were around USD 537 million. The Government of Sri Lanka has pledged around USD 100 million for the project. The JICA and the Chinese governments too have indicated their willingness to fund these projects. Several delegations from these funding agencies have visited Sri Lanka and have pledged their financial support for the projects.

Meanwhile displaced families in Moragahakande will be re-settled on the banks of the Kalu-Ganga stretching from Laggala towards Pallegama and Medirigiriya. Around 1500 will be re-settled with their consent. It was proposed to allocate one and a half acres of paddy land and half an acre of highland to them. A new township will also be built for re-settled families when the Pallegama village is submerged. At present the work at the Moragahakande and Kalu Ganga reservoirs are being carried out with funding from the State. Moragahakande will be the biggest reservoir while the Kalu Ganga reservoir will be smaller in size. The project will provide water to farmers in the North Central Province (NCP) during the Yala season. One of the largest reservoir projects incorporated in phase 2 of the Mahaveli Master Plan was commissioned in 2005.

Director General Alwis further said that the 13.5 kilometre road had been built to link Kubiyangahawela and Moragahatenne. The road will link Moragahakada with Naulla in the Matale area.

As Moragahakande and the Kalu Ganga projects encompasses Wasgamuwa and the Minneriya National parks, funding will be utilised to preserve the habitat and wildlife at these parks. The Moragahakande reservoir consists of a major dam and two saddle dams to collect the spill-over water. Owing to largeness of the dam foreign expertise will be needed to design the major dam and the second saddle dams.

We visited the Moragahakande project eight months ago and met the then Secretary to the Ministry of Mahaveli Authority, Ivan de Silva. He told us that they have decided to go ahead with the construction of the second saddle dam, (an earth dam) with expertise from the Irrigation Department to save foreign exchange. “We believe we can save around Rs. 500-600 million rupees by using local expertise and local machinery. The entire project will take around six years to complete,” he said.

He further said that 2000 hectares will be developed at Kaudulla in the Medirigiriya area for the benefit of 2000 families. Plans are under way for the Moragahakande nursery to supply around one million tress to be planted in the Moragahakande and in the Kalu Ganga areas. Around 500,000 Jak trees have been planted last year. Meanwhile negotiations are under way with the OPEC, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia government, the Chinese and the Japanese governments to raise funds for the project. The Moragahakande and the Kalu-Ganga down stream project will commence simultaneously.

(1) Meanwhile the following environmental action plan has been proposed in respect of the Moragahakanda and the Kalu Ganga Development project. Reforestation of 1,365 river/stream reservations in Moragahakande catchment areas.

(2) Establishment of 100 meters reservation around the Moragahakande reservoir and reforestation of the reservation area.

(3) Declaration of the elephant corridor between Minneriya-Giritale nature reserve and Wasgamuwa national park.

(a) Establishment of an electric fence along the elephant corridor.

(4) Habitat enrichment in Minneriya - Giritale Nature Reserve and the Wasgamuwa National Park.

The Mahaveli development is the largest irrigation project undertaken by the State to settle 125,000 families. Farmers have been able to profit immensely by growing cash crops such as onions, chillies, grapes, plantains in zones C, B. G, areas. The total acreage cultivated is around 500,000 acres.