President visits Minipe Anicut construction site
COLOMBO: President Ranil Wickremesinghe visited the Minipe Anicut, one of Sri Lanka’s oldest water management sites recently.
The Minipe Ela was built in king Dhatusena’s reign of the 5th century AD, by putting up a stone anicut on the rapids of Mahaweli.
In later years, it was further extended during the kingships of Aggabodhi I (6th century AD) and Sena III (9th century AD). Culawamsa refers to Minipe Ela as ‘Yaka-Bendi-Ela’ meaning the canal that was built by the Yakkhas of the past who were the ancestors of the indigenous people of Sri Lanka.
A stone inscription was found on the canal bank and is now safely kept at the worksite, describing the work carried out since Sena. It will be re-erected at the visitor centre, which is being constructed at the site premises.
The old anicut and canal were rehabilitated and reconstructed in 1940’s, by the government of Prime Minister D.S. Senenayake and in 1980, a new anicut was built while adding a 30km concrete lined canal to the right bank of the river, through the Mahaweli Accelerated program, initiated by President J.R. Jayawardene’s government.
The 1980 anicut is now being raised by 3.5 meters, constructing a 360 meter long, 7-meter-high concrete “ogee” shaped weir and a new head regulator and a silt ejector to the left bank, under the Mahaweli Water Security Program (MWSP).
The new head regulator for the left bank irrigation canal with automatic control system is replacing an existing structure while the new silt ejector with electrical operation system for the left bank canal with a lower sill level will minimize silt deposition in the left bank approach to the head regulator.
MWSP is an ADB-assisted government program to improve the water infrastructure facilities to divert Mahaweli water to the water-short northern parts of the North Central and North-western Province of Sri Lanka began in 2015, following initial planning done in 2014.
MWSIP implements three major projects; the Upper Elahera Canal Project (UECP), North-western Province Canal Project (NWPCP) and Minipe Left Bank Canal Project (MLBCRP).
Project Benefits:
• Farmers who cultivate at tail end of the Minipe left bank canal (Stage 4) will have continuous water supplies.
• Establishment of a risk-free environment for those who living beside the Minipe canal by repairing canal defects.
• Benefits to more than 15,000 families, including farmers who can cultivate in both Yala and Maha seasons as a result of improved reliability of water supplies.
• A tank located in the Wasgamuwa forest reserve will be fed, even in the dry season, to make water available for wild animals.
• Canal rehabilitation and modifications to the anicut will help to achieve efficient operation and maintenance, leading to improved water control and management.
At Minipe water is also diverted to Ulhitiya-Rathkinda reservoir and to Maduru- oya through the 30 km long Trans-Basin Canal which is the largest canal as well as the first canal to be concrete lined for the entire length which conveys water on a ‘water bridge’ called Aqua-Duct to cross over the Badulu Oya river. This is the right bank diversion that one can see across the anicut.
Meanwhile, The Sustainable Energy Authority is now in discussion with the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) to construct a 100MW pump storage facility, pumping water up from Rantambe to Randenigala reservoir with the integration of 125MW of floating solar at the Randenigala reservoir to supply 100MW of base power for five hours.
China Gezhouba, the contractor who is building the structures at Minipe, are also building a dam at Morogolla, again across Mahaweli, which will provide another 30mw of power.
China Gezhouba was created to build the Gezhouba dam across the Yangtze (yellow) river, as a forerunner for the famous three gorges dam across the same river. China Gezhouba was responsible for the main dam structures at the three gorges dam.
However, at Minipe, there are no Chinese engineers or workforce. Young Sri Lankan engineers and workers are continuing the traditions of our forefathers, who introduced some of the most innovative irrigation mechanisms to the world, including the “biso kotuwa”, the sluice gates that allowed our ancestors to control the flow of vast amounts of water to our irrigation canals.
The President commented that without Engineers from Sri Lankan engineering faculties, such work cannot be carried out.
While this project has delayed completion for more than 4 years, due to various reasons, the President instructed officials to finish this and deliver the water to the farmers by the next maha season.
President’s chief of staff, Mr. Sagala Ratnayake, Director of the MWSP Project Management Unit, Eng. D.B. Wijeratne, Project Director Indika Walisundara, officials from the Consulting Engineers Tractebel Engineering GmbH, representatives from the Contractor, China Gezhouba Group Company, and others participated in the President’s visit. Mr. Kasun Gunawardene, site manager, briefed the President and other visitors regarding the salient points of the project.