Broadlands project to add 35 MW to grid

Chamikara Weerasinbghe

Power and Energy Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka visited the historic Saman Dewalaya in Maussakale where he gifted a pair of ivory tusks to the temple to invoke blessings on the Broadlands Hydropower Project, ahead of its foundation-laying ceremony for construction scheduled next month.

The Broadlands project will add 35 Megawatts to the National Grid. It will be Sri Lanka’s last hydropower plant in the Laxapana Hydropower Complex.

Minister Ranawaka said that 35 Megawatts is to be injected to the grid as part of the government’s plans to add 250 Megawatts to the existing grid from medium-scale hydropower projects.

The medium-scale hydropower projects include 150 MW capacity Uma Oya, 35 MW Broadlands,27 MW Moragolla and 49 MW Ginganga projects. The Broadlands project will be constructed along the Kelani River. The China National Electric Equipment Corporation (CNEEC) will construct the facility for US dollars 82 million.

The project involves construction of a 114 metre long and 24 meter high gravity dam across the Maskeli Oya tributary of the Kelani River. A 48 metres long and 19 metres high overflow dam will be built across the Kehelgamu Oya. The main tunnel is 3.2 kilometres long.