Sri Lankan President instructs acceleration of Moragahakanda-Kaluganga mega development plan
President of Sri Lanka Maithripala Sirisena has directed all relevant officials to ensure the acceleration of the multiple irrigation projects connected to the Moragahakanda-Kaluganga mega development plan.
The President has noted that the people whose livelihoods depend on farming in those dry zones should receive benefits of the project without delay.
The local media has reported that the mega Moragahakanda-Kaluganga development project saw its culmination under the guidance of President Sirisena.
Under this large scale project, the Wayamba Canal and North Central Giant Canal or Upper Elahera Canal development projects are currently underway as sub-schemes.
Moragahakanda-Kaluganga Development Project was launched in 2007 with the objective of providing clean drinking and irrigation water to the North, North Central and Eastern Provinces, to ensure paddy cultivation unhindered in both Yala and Maha seasons.
According to reports, as of today, this mega project has been extended to include the North Central Canal project as well in order to feed the Wea Medilla Tank reservoir, and subsequently channel the water storage to 303 more small and large-scale tanks.
Accordingly, a 94 km canal is being built from Moragahakanda to Nachchaduwa Tank under the North Central Giant Canal or Upper Elahera sub project. The project hopes to ensure an uninterrupted water supply to 1600 more reservoirs, including main tanks such as Nuwara Weva, Nachchaduwa Weva, Tisa Weva and Hurulu Weva, located in the Anuradhapura District, reports state.
In addition, three more giant tanks, namely Parakrama Samudraya, Kawudulla Weva, and Kanthale Weva, are also bound to feed with water channelled through the old river Amban Ganga which carries the bulk of the flow to Moragahakanda, Polonnaruwa, and Trincomalee.
Reports further stated that under President Sirisena’s instruction, steps have been already taken to release stocks of water from the Moragahakanda Tank project to the Minneriya project for irrigation.
Meanwhile, feeding the Kalu Ganga reservoir with water is now nearing its completion, while 16 more tanks are also being saturated for cultivation by 3000 more affected farming families, who earlier had lived in 24 villages but abandoned their localities as the development project moved on.
OSL take:
The acceleration of the mega Moragahakanda-Kaluganga project would result in the expansion of business/investment opportunities in many economic sectors in Sri Lanka. Apart from the business opportunities in supplying raw material and equipment to the project, foreign businesses/investors could explore opportunities of introducing supplementary infrastructure facilities along the project. The mega irrigation development project would create new townships in many areas in the dry zone that would require many supplementary infrastructure facilities. Also, foreign businesses/investors could explore opportunities that would come up in Sri Lanka’s agriculture sector due to the increase in agriculture lands in the dry zone following the completion of the mega irrigation project.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/08072019/Z_6 |