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| Wednesday, 31 March 2004 |
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by Chamikara Weerasinghe The lack of a distinct national programme and political interference have reportedly impeded the progress of the National Water Supply and Drainage Board in fulfilling its duties to the public, Water Board officials disclosed last Tuesday to media at a press conference. Chairman of the Board, V. Sathyananthan admitting to the situation said that steps taken by the Board to introduce new water projects to extend its services throughout the country, have been prevented because of various political reasons. He said this on being asked to explain why that the Board has been unable to address the problem of sea water mixing with fresh water in their supply reservoirs despite funding in by the central government and foreign donors. Sathyananthan said the Board had to face this problem once every four years as a drought hits the country, and although the Board has made necessary submissions to higher authorities to answer the problem, they appeared to have delayed necessary action. "The delay is not on our side, but theirs," he said. Officials of the Board told the Daily News that key projects, such as the Kaluganga Water project, to develop Kalu Ganga to be a water resource to provide water to the southern part of the greater Colombo area and Kalutara district had been put on hold owing to funding-related problems and diverse political opinion by the parties that come into power. The estimated cost of the Kaluganga Project is Rs. 8,600 million, of which Rs. 2,750 million is to be funded by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). Sathyananthan said they have been unable to get funds from some foreign donors to start some projects, which were approved a few years ago, because of the time-consuming process in getting them. Regretting the delays in implementing the projects, he said that there were complex political functions happening behind these loans. However, he declined to explain the situation in detail, saying he was more interested in getting a few water projects started as soon as possible. |
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