'Land of the singing fish', a tourist destination soon

By P.Krishnaswamy

The Panichchankerni Bridge on the Batticaloa-Trincomalee A15 Road

Senior citizens' park in Batticaloa

A front view of the reconstructed Vagarai Church dedicated to St Peter

The newly constructed Valayiravu Bridge

The newly constructed box bridge along the Aayathiyamalai-Vavunathivu Road

President Mahinda Rajapaksa's visit last Sunday to Batticaloa to inaugurate projects completed under the Neganahira Vasanthaya marked an important milestone in the history of the district's development in the period after the eradication of terrorism. On this historic day, the President officially opened the fully reconstructed Church dedicated to St.Peter at Vagarai that was devastated in the December 26, 2004 tsunami. He also officially commissioned the Oluvil commercial harbour and a fisheries harbour for which Rs.7,000 million was allocated. On the same day the President opened the Panichchankarni bridge on the Batticaloa-Trincomalee Road (A15) constructed at a cost of Rs.1,060 million.

The district contributes 7.6 percent to the national production of paddy . The average per acre yield is 4.5 tonnes while the national average is only 4.2 tonnes per acre. The mainstay of about 50,000 families is agriculture, especially paddy, and they constitute about 32 percent of the total population of the district. Fisheries contributes 8.75 percent of the annual national production, and livestock contributes 30 percent of the national production. There are about 30,000 fisher families who comprise 18 percent of the population of the district. In this context the Government has launched several mega projects for the development of agriculture and fisheries in the district, District Secretariat sources said.

With its diverse natural resources, beautiful landscapes, captivating golden beaches and many other tourist attractions, the district, known as the land of the singing fish, is being developed as a major tourist destination. On September 3, President Rajapaksa launched a project to construct a domestic airport. The cost of the 1,700-metre long tarmac, access and flight landing has been estimated at Rs.800 M. The other infrastructure facilities for promoting tourism including hotels and hotel management training schools are to be developed.

The total allocation of funds during 2008-2012 on the consolidated implementation for the district is Rs.54,837.39 M. Of the allocation of Rs.64,563.64 M for the current year, 58 percent is for reconstruction/rehabilitation of roads, 26 percent for shelter, 8.5 percent for agriculture, 4 percent for educational development and the balance for the livelihood, tourism, administration and the fisheries sectors, according to details furnished by the Director Planning of the Batticaloa Scretariat. The other details of development-oriented activities as furnished by the Secretariat are:

Under the Divineguma program funded by the Economic Development Ministry, Rs.7.9 million has been allocated for the current year for distributing seed packets and plants among farmer communities in the district. Over 103,328 seed packets, 23,212 vegetable plants and 78,227 coconut plants have been distributed.

Under the educational infrastructure development program for 2013, funded by the Economic Development Ministry many school buildings in the district have been renovated or reconstructed. Significant among them is the completion of the BT/Vincent Girls' National School at a cost of Rs.26.5 M and the BT/RKM Vidyalayam together with Unit 35 of the BT/Kannan Vidyalayam, at a cost of Rs.3.5 M. The BT/Vaharai Maha Vidyalayam which was renovated was opened by President Rajapaksa. The National Vocational Campus in Vantharumoolai imparts training in 46 trades/course to 623 students at present.

Rs.200 M has been allocated for the construction of a national stadium in Batticaloa. The construction of an Open University and renovation of the Vocational Training Authority are remarkable achievements in the education sector.

The development in the education sector provides a suitable environment for studies which improves the mental health of students and increases their educational performances.

In the shelter sector, flood damaged houses were renovated at a cost of Rs.589.3 M in the past two years. Under the 're-awakening' program of the Economic Development Ministry for the current year Rs.418.20 M was spent for the development of the Pankulam, Vellavely areas. Rs.35 M was spent in 2012 for the development of 7- feeder schools.

Rs.94.7 M was spent in the years 2011/12 on strengthening the administrative establishment in the district. Under the expansion of the road network program, 166 km of A class roads have been completed in 2012 while 4 km remain to be completed and 54.24 km of B class roads have been completed with 4.40 km still to be completed by the Road Development Authority (RDA).

They completed almost 175 km of C and D class roads in 2012 with 210 km to be completed in the coming years. The RDA has also completed 120 km rural roads while 30 km are yet to be completed. Under the Local Government Road Development program 418 km rural roads have been completed in 2012 with more than 2,164 km yet to be completed. Of the targeted 102 bridges, the RDA completed 15 bridges in 2012. Of the targeted 30 bridges the RDA has completed 18 bridges in 2012 while the remaining 12 bridges will be completed before 2016.

The Valayiravu Bridge is one of the major bridges constructed under the roads/bridges development program recently. The Oddamavady bridge constructed at a cost of Rs.354 M was opened by President Rajapaksa. The Kayankery bridge on the A15 Batticaloa-Trincomalee road was constructed at a cost of Rs.400 M and the Manmunaithurai bridge at a cost of Rs.1870 M.

In the irrigation sector, renovation/rehabilitation of the targeted 8 major tanks, 5 tanks has been completed while 3 more will be completed in the coming years. Of the targeted 16 medium tanks, 9 have been completed and the remaining 7 will be completed before 2016. Of the targeted 302 minor tanks, work has been completed on 265 tanks while the remaining 37 will be completed before 2016. Anicuts of the Thanthamalayam, Sorical, Thanthoreeswar and Sinanachenai tanks have been constructed under the irrigation development program.

To address the clean drinking water problem of the local population, the Unnichai Water Purification Plant was established at Vavunathivu at a cost of Rs.8320 M.

This project too was opened by the President. Pipe-born water facilities were extended to 6,349 more families in 2011 and another 125,748 families in 2012. The target is 58,000 more families to be achieved by 2016. The increase in supply of pipe-born water represents 32 percent.

There has been a marked achievement in the supply of electricity to the local communities in the district. Of the total requirement of 127 km high tension lines, 49.30 km have already been provided while 77.70 km are anticipated to be provided before 2016. Of the 566 km low tension lines 374.90 have already been provided while 191.10 km are to be provided before 2016, according to data provided by the Economic Development Ministry sources.

A senior citizens' park, Gandhi Park and the Linear Park have been constructed at a cost of Rs.134 million.