Rs 6,000 m water project for Trinco

Chamikara WEERASINGHE

The government will open the Greater Trincomalee Integrated Water Supply Project, which will resolve the drinking water problems of people in the Trincomalee district.

Water Supply and Drainage Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said yesterday the project worth Rs 6,000 million will be handed over to the public in Trincomalee by the end of next month.

The project will resolve drinking water problems of around 330,000 people in the district who will get hygienic pipe borne water to their homes. Minister Gunawardena said: “The water supply project will be commissioned at Kantale with the water treatment and filtering plant at Kantale having been developed to supply two million gallons of water per day to meet the water demands of the public.”

National Water Supply and Drainage Board chairman Karunasena Hettiarachchi said the Greater Trincomalee water project will meet drinking water needs of newly resettled families among others in the Eastern province, who have been using tube wells for a long time.

French and Sri Lankan governments have funded the project.

The Board’s Eastern Province General Manager M K Hapuarachchi said the project will resolve drinking water problems of 35,000 families in Kantale, Thampalakamam, Kinniya District Secretariat Division, Trincomalee Town and surrounding areas, said Hapuarachchi.

Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa inaugurated the rehabilitation and upgrading of the project in 2011.

French ambassador to Sri Lanka Christine Robichon, Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, Eastern Province Governor Mohan Wijewickrama and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader MP R Sampanthan were among those present at the inauguration ceremony.