The Mahaweli Development Project of Sri Lanka; a failure?

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...

           By 1968, Sri Lankan hydro power engineers had established the tradition of hydro power development, through the projects at Laksapahana (50MW), Nawalakasapahana (100MW), Wimalasurendra (50MW) , samanala (75MW), Canyon I (30MW) and Canyon II (30MW) , which gave a total of 335MW, from the upper attachment area of the Kelani Ganga, Situated in wet zone up country. The catchment of the Mahaweli Ganga in the up country wet zone is several times larger than the Kelani catchment on which the above hydro projects are based.             In the early 1950s , the Irrigation department started the collection of data for the use of the Mahaweli Ganga water resources by doing the preliminary surveys and the essential investigations. Of the six water flow (current) metering stations on the Mahweli Ganga set up by the irrigation department,   two were located at Agarapatana and ...

            In 1931, after Mr. D.S. Senanayake became the minister of lands and agriculture in the state council, maintenance work on some ancient irrigation works commenced and since 1933, the establishment of colonization schemes started with the first being at Minneriya. The   maintenance of the anicuts and channels at Elahera and Angamedilla on   the Amban Ganga to feed Minneriya and Parakarama Samudra respectively and of the Minipe anicut and channel on the Mahaweli Ganga, used the Mahaweli waters for dryzone agriculture again, as in ancient times. After the death of Mr. D.S. Senanayake in 1952, Mr. Duddly Senanayake became the prime minister and under his premiership, the Irrigation Department started the collection of data, the preliminary surveys and investigations, in the early 1950s, for the use of the Mahaweli Ganga for irrigation and hydro power, which is therefore the starting point of the 'modern' Maha...