In aftermath of floods:

LRDC promises to deliver

Disna Mudalige

Land Reclamation and Development Corporation (LRDC) has implemented a special project to identify and excavate water retention areas in flood hit suburbs to improve the water retention capacity during heavy rains, Chairman Harshan de Silva said.

He said that most retention areas have been seized by numerous people including both laity and the clergy using power.

"Illegal land filling can be experienced in most retention areas in the city. As identified about 300 acres of retention areas have been filled in this manner in Colombo. The flood was widespread in Kotte, Nawala, Rajagiriya, Rattanapitiya, Borelasgamuwa and Pepiliyana. We have identified several places such as the back yard of Waters Edge, front land of the Central Environment Authority and land near Talawatugoda Junction which were retention areas before to be excavated once again.

This will help minimize the effect of floods after heavy rains. We hope to complete this activity by the end of next year," de Silva said.

He said that floods coincided with a high tide at sea.

This was a disadvantage since the water which could have flown into the sea was retained inland. This was unusual as calm sea prevails normally during November and December.

The Chairman also pointed out that the Corporation on Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa's directives has been clearing the whole canal network in the city during the past four months.

"We had completed 75 percent of our work. Our target was to complete clearing of all main canals by the end of December this year.

The depth of some canals were minus 0.2 metres below Mean Sea Level (MSL) where as they should have a depth of minus one MSL. If this work was not initiated the water level caused by previous heavy showers could have been raised by another one metre.

The main obstacle we faced was the unauthorized structures and connection of sewerage lines to these canals. We cleared all of them," he said. De Silva noted that all citizens must be aware of the flood level in the land which is plus two MSL. "It is seen that most of the filled lands are not upto this level.

For example the Waters Edge land amounts only upto 1.2 MSL and as a result it also went under water. Filling of land is anyway illegal, but they have also not done it upto the required quality," he said.De Silva also said that a special hydro engineering project is to be launched in Weresganga with Chinese government aid. The launching of this project has now been expedited. About Rs 9,000 million is to be spent on it. Areas such as Nugegoda, Delkanda, Kohuwala and Pepiliyana will be included into this project. These areas are usually highly affected after a heavy downpour. Nugegoda is another location where a large number of land fillings had taken place, he added.

He also noted that the North of Colombo was safe by floods this time due to the completion of a tank near Peliyagoda fish market.

The water was retained in it and as a result the Negombo road did not go under water, he said.

"Flood is a natural phenomenon and we cannot eliminate it completely. But we can follow mitigation methods to reduce its impact on people. The success of a country depends upon the way we face such challenges. It is due to our own faults that we face adverse effects by floods," he said.