Sri Lanka: Government Approves Colombo Flood Mitigation Project

The Cabinet has granted approval to allocate Rs.1000 million to proceed with the special flood control work program for the year 2012 initiated by the Sri Lanka Land Reclamation & Development Corporation under the direction of Secretary Defence & Urban Development,.

The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) has launched an ambitious program of economic and physical regeneration for metropolitan Colombo in a bid to transform it into a modern, world-class capital. This program aims to improve the overall urban environment and attract private capital.

Colombo City is the commercial and financial heart of the country and is the international gateway to Sri Lanka. It produces almost 50% of the GDP of the country, housing most of the country’s manufacturing facilities and services. As a Middle Income Country, Sri Lanka needs to tap the competitive advantages of the Colombo Metropolitan Region to accelerate growth and compete at international level. However, Colombo is also vulnerable to floods, which over the past two decades have been increasing in intensity and frequency due to climate changes, with imaginable negative impacts on the economy and productivity of the city.

On the direction of the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development, the Sri Lanaka Land Reclamation and Development Corporation has initiated several urgent short term measures to mitigate flood in and around Colombo. Water retention facilities around the Water’s Edge, Diyawanna Garden and at the lake at Sadaham Sevana of Gothami Rd Colombo will also be widened with dredging and drainage improvement. These projects will included cleaning of existing canal system, dredging of flood retention areas, creating water retention lakes and controlling haphazard filling of low lying lands etc.

Also identified Medium Term flood mitigatory measures will be carried out under the Metro Colombo Urban Development

The proposal made by the President, in his capacity as the Minister of Defence and Urban Development, the Cabinet decided to allocate Rs 1000 million to proceed with the special flood control work programme initiated by the SLLR&DC for the year 2012.

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Source: news.lk, October 19, 2012; Image: slpa