Kekiriobada scheme opens tomorrow
Wijitha Nakkawita
[Major irrigation scheme]
* Project to have 33 metre high dam
* Work project started in 2006
* New reservoir has capacity of 2,200 acre feet
* Length of dam - 800 feet 3,437 farmer families to benefit
* Reservoir has highest dam in Southern Province
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The Kekiriobada Dam built by local irrigation engineers. Picture
courtesy Irrigation Department |
One of the major river diversion irrigation schemes of the South
built under the Mahinda Chintana policy of President Rajapaksa, the
Kekiriobada scheme with a 33 metre high dam will be declared open by
President Mahinda Rajapaksa on the invitation of Ports and Aviation
Minister Chamal Rajapaksa tomorrow.
The river diversion scheme envisioned in the President’s policy
program was started in 2006 damming the Kirama Oya with its source at
Rammalakanda on the border of the Matara and Hambantota District, flows
through many agricultural villages from Walasmulla to Tangalla.
The old Kirama reservoir built during the Dutch period was
insufficient to irrigate a sufficient acreage of paddy and the new
reservoir was built damming the Kekiri Oya, a tributary of the main
river. The new reservoir with a capacity of 2,200 acre feet was built by
the Irrigation Department with a dam over 30 metres in height and 800
feet in length, Resident Engineer P L S Puranagedara said.
The dam was built using 350,000 cubes of earth by local engineers and
the Irrigation Department workforce.
Compensation for 208 families who had lost their lands to the
reservoir were paid compensation in a sum of Rs 40 million and were
given 40 perch blocks of land to build houses, he said.
The number of farmer families to benefit from the Kekiriobada scheme
will be 3,437 and among the benefits to the community will be to provide
good drinking water during droughts as well as for inland fisheries,
while its main function will be to irrigate a large extent of paddy
lands in Kirama, Walasmulla, Beliatta and Tangalla, Engineer
Puranagedara said.
This reservoir with the highest dam in the Southern Province was
planned and built completely with local technological know how by the
Irrigation Department Engineers, he also said. |
