The Mahaweli Development Project of Sri Lanka; a failure?

The Mahaweli Ganga was to supply the water requirements for irrigarion of the lowland paddy areas to be developed in the Project area of the MDS as well as for the 7 hydro power projects of Ukuwela (30MW), Bowatenne (40MW), Kotmale (201MW), Victoria (210MW), Randenigala (126mW, Rantambe (50MW) and Moragahakande (75MW) The ability of the Mahaweli ganga to supply all this water seems to have been based on the assumpion that it is a perennial water source of infinite capacity! After 49 years since the inception of the MDS in 1968/69, the belief that the Mahaweli would be able to supply this water is now suspect. Due to the shortage of Mahaweli water for both irrigation and power production, in 2016, the paddy production in the Mahaweli systems were for below the projected which entailed urgent imports of rice while the production of electricity at Victoria and Randenigala were also curtailed. At present, a substantial proportion of farmers being provided with monthly drought relief in th...

The forest cover of Sri Lanka based on aerial photography, as stated in the Biological Conservation Report of 1993 of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (1UCN) is as follows: 1956 : 44% 1992 : 20.24% The reduction of the forest cover commenced in the British Colonial period with the clearing of forests for the cultivation of coffee. The first coffee plantation of 10 acres was established in 1825, during the tenure of Governor Sir Edward Barnes. (Tennent 1859). In January 1856, the area under coffee was 71300 acres. (Balasigham : ' The administration of Sir. Henry Ward). In the early 1860s, the ' Coffee Boom' collapsed due to ' Black Bug' (Hemeleia Vastarix). In 1867, the first tea plantation of Sri Lanka was established with 10 acres of Loolkandura Estate by Mr. James Jaylor and subsequently coffee was replaced by Tea. The progress of Tea cultivation is started by David Crole in ' Tea' (1897) as follows: 1867 - 10 acres 1877 - 2,720 acres 18...

1.       The MDS was a dictate of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (1BRD). An 1BRD mission visited Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) in May 1961 and stated that. The MDS is a promising multipurpose scheme to meet Ceylon's economic needs' (Ref: my 'A critical view of the conception of the MDS' http://Mahawelifailure.blogspot.com.) The government of Ceylon at the time blindly followed the 1BRD. 2.       The statistics of the Agriculture Department for the districtwise paddy production of 2012 is as follows; District Area (hectares) Ampara 132741 Anuradhapura 149353 Badulla 39228 Batticoloa 83357 Colombo 5527 Gampaha 13904 Galle 20180 Hambantota 67251 Jaffna 8755 Kandy 18857 Kegalle 9985 Kilinochchi 26647 Kurunegala 107354 Manner ...

The Uma Oya Project             Selected transcripts about the Uma Oya Project from a letter addressed to the Hon.President by me on the 2 nd Feb. 2015.             This letter was acknowledged by the Assistant Secretary to the President on 16 th March, 2015 and forwarded by him to the Secretary, Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment for necessary action in accordance with the existing rules and regulations. Transcripts Subject : 'Uma Oya' tunnel leak at Karandagolla. 1.       'Yesterday's (1 st Feb, 2015) revelation by Sirasa of the gigantic water leak within the tunnel at Karandagolla, makes it, I believe, for the government and the executive president to take a quick decision without any delay. The reasons for this are under mentioned. 2.       'When the tunnel, from the Kotmale dam to the powerho...