Cabinet Decisions

Rambukkan Oya

Cabinet granted approval to extend the project period of Rambukkan Oya Reservoir Project to 2012. After completion of this project, it will serve lands in Maha Oya Divisional Secretariat area in the Ampara District where the people suffer from water scarcity.

The reservoir will hold 56 million cu.m. of water after its completion and will provide irrigation facilities for 3,500 acres of paddy land benefiting about 2,000 farmer families.

The project on a proposal by Irrigation and Water Resource Development Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva will cost Rs 2,500 million.

Kurunegala Teaching Hospital

Cabinet granted approval to award the construction of Phase-II of the maternity ward complex of the Teaching Hospital, Kurunegala to the Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau (CECB). This project proposed by Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena will cost around Rs 244 million.

Building complex

Cabinet granted approval to construct a three storied building complex for the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences at the University of Peradeniya on a recommendation of Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayke and to implement the project in 2010, phasing out the construction work over two years at a cost of Rs 157 million.

Research study

Cabinet on a recommendation by Irrigation and Water Resource Development Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva granted approval to release Rs 127 million from the Treasury from 2011 to the Water Resources Board for the research study that will lead to identify the parameters of the valuable aquifer system of the coastal zone extending from Colombo to Negombo.

The results of this study would be useful to develop norms and guidelines for sustainable exploitation of the aquifer which is subjected to chemical and bacteriological pollution.

Since technical parameters of the aquifer have not been studied so far, Cabinet granted approval to release funds to implement this project in the costal zone from Colombo to Negombo.

On a recommendation by Irrigation and Water Resource Development Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, Cabinet granted approval to an allocation of Rs 32 million from the Treasury from 2011 to the Water Resources Board to implement the research work in the Anuradhapura District where the ground water and tank water are used for day-to-day consumption.

Mou with Yunan Province

On a proposal by Agriculture Minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, Cabinet granted approval to enter into an MoU with Yunan Province of China, for the development of agriculture, horticulture and floriculture fields.

Cabinet approval was granted on a proposal by Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake to revise the total cost estimate from Rs 70 million to Rs 132 million to complete the balance work of the construction of the building for a Civil Engineering Research Centre of University of Moratuwa within 2010, on a priority basis and the expenditure to be managed within the financial provision allocated to the University Grants Commission in 2010.