Rs. 200 m to jump-start Lower Malwathu Oya project

Nimal Wijesinghe Anuradhapura additional district group corr

Irrigation and Water Resources Management Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva toured Mannar district to gather first hand information on the progress in irrigational rehabilitation and construction work in the region.

He inspected the site demarcated for the construction of Lower Malwathu Oya Reservoir near Thantirimale.

The Minister was briefed by senior irrigation officials. The 2012 budget has allocated Rs. 200 million to give a jump-start to the Lower Malwathu Oya Reservoir Project construction. It was disclosed that under USSR assistance a full investigation was carried out during 1947-1958 and a detailed design completed in 1960.

Irrigation Secretary Engineer Ivan de Silva informed the minister that once the reservoir is completed under Mannar’s Giant Tank and Akathimuruppu Tank around 40,000 acres could be cultivated in both Yala and Maha seasons. The programme would generate an additional income of Rs. 2,400 million to the state coffers through enhanced rice production.

Minister de Silva instructed the officials to utilize the Rs. 200 million for the preliminary preparation programme of the Reservoir Project and said he would endeavour to secure Rs. 6,000 million from the Treasury under President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s patronage .

The minister during his tour visited the Giant Tank and met farmers who said during the LTTE terrorism, Maha cultivation was limited to 10,000 acres. After the eradication of terrorism the tank bund and feeder canal system were completely rehabilitated. Now cultivation has been expanded to 25,000 acres.

The minister inspected the ongoing rehabilitation work at the Akhatimuruppu and Viyadikulam Tanks. The Japanese funded Peace Project has undertaken the tanks rehabilitation at a cost of Rs. 175 billion.