Moragahakanda - Kaluganga waters to flow into Iranamadu tank:

Northern farmers in for a bonanza

By P. Krishnaswamy

The ambitious and far-reaching Moragahakanda-Kaluganga Multipurpose Development Project (MKDP) which began with the final objective of diverting water to the Iranamadu tank in Kilinochchi and helping the Northern farmers is expected to be completed before schedule, according to project authorities.

The Iranamadu tank remains dry most of the year

Construction work now of the Moragahakanda and Kaluganga reservoirs now in progress on an accelerated pace. Pix : Wimal Karunathillaka

Although waters from the MKDP was originally scheduled to reach Iranamadu tank in 2022 it is most likely that it will be much ahead of that in view of the accelerated pace of the project, the sources said. The supply of water from Iranamadu to Jaffna and other areas of the Northern province will be for both irrigation and drinking purposes.

The construction of the two major reservoirs, Moragahakanda and the Kaluganga, is in progress and would be completed next year and the year after respectively.

It would include rockfilling, RPC canal and power house construction. Water filling to the Moragahakanda reservoir will be started in October 2016 during the monsoonal season and water filling to the Kaluganga will be started in October 2017, according to the sources. The Moragahakanda canal construction will be completed in 2017, the sources said.

The completion of the project in the next half-a-decade will mark a very significant milestone under the Mahaveli development projects, bringing thousands of acres of cultivable lands under the plough along its long course to the North Central and the Northern provinces, while also fulfilling the Northern people's long-felt need of water for irrigation, drinking and domestic use.

The capacity of the two reservoirs is almost six times the size of the Parakrama Samudra and it is second only to the Victoria Dam and Hydro Power Project, according to project authorities.

The Iranamadu tank remains dry up most of the year with no water available to the farmers who, consequently, incur losses. The total investment is US $ 650 Mn.

Under the Moragahakanda and the Kaluganga reservoir construction process and downstream construction of the canals about 2500 families are getting displaced due to inundation of their places of residence, US $ 125 Mn or more will have to be spent on the relocation/rehabilitation of these families.

Construction of the Moragahakanda Reservoir has been undertaken with funds raised from the China Development Bank and the world's leading construction company, the Sinohydro Corporation of China, which is entrusted with the construction work.

The construction of the Kaluganga Reservoir has been undertaken with funding from the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED), the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) and the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID). The local inputs are from the engineers of the Irrigation Department which would save millions of rupees to the national coffers.

The Kaluganga and the Morakahakanda reservoirs will be linked by a tunnel about 9 kilometers (km) in length including 8 km of tunnelling.

The Hurulu Wewa reservoir in the North Central province will be linked by the Upper Elahera canal. Kaluganga-Moragahakanda Transfer Canal (KMTC) will convey up to 771 MCM of water annually between Kaluganga and Moragahakanda Reservoirs.

The Upper Elahera Canal (UEC) will annually convey up to 974 MCM northwards from Moragahakanda Reservoir, along a 70 km canal (including about 20km of tunnels and 16 km of cut-cover conduits), to the existing Huruluwewa and Mannakattiya Reservoirs, which feed existing irrigation and water supply schemes.

At the final phase the water will be transferred to the Kanagarayankulam tank and from there to the Iranamadu tank and will eventually augment drinking water supplies to Jaffna and Kilinochchi.

The Iranamadu reservoir will get 100 MCM water annually. This, in turn, will help towards further uplifting the socio-economic welfare of the people of the North who have been ravaged by the nearly 30 years of terrorism.

The Moragahakanda-Kaluganga Development project is to provide irrigation for agriculture and water for domestic and industrial use in Central, North central, Eastern, North and North Western provinces of Sri Lanka. Generation of electricity by hydro power (25 MW), Development of inland fisheries, promotion of eco tourism and flood control in lower basins in the dry zone are other objectives that are to be fulfilled under the project. At the initial stage, with the construction of Moragahakanda and the Kaluganga reservoirs, it will become possible to provide irrigation water facilities to 82, 000 ha of lands for both Yala and Maha seasons and domestic and industrial water to Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Trincomalee and Matale districts.

Here about 5000 ha of new lands for agriculture will open up and developed under the project.

The North Central Province canal (NCP canal) will successfully irrigate 135,189 ha of new and prevailing agricultural lands for both seasons in eight river basins at North and North Central Provinces.

To facilitate this activity 8 tanks have been planned to be construct in eight river basins in the area.

Cropping intensity will be enhanced from 100% to 154% in the Development Area. With the implementation of the project it will be increased up to 181% on the average.

Direct benefits include increased rice yield per hectare with an additional agricultural production of 123,000 tons annually. The net annual agricultural benefits will be US $ 30.1 million in monitory terms.

The average annual fish production potential of the reservoirs is estimated to be around 4,700 tons per year, representing a net benefit US $ 1.67 million annually.

The annual fuel cost savings with the hydro power production will be around US $ 2.49 million on an annual average.