Upper Kothmale Hydro Power Project: Japan to fund Sri Lankan government to destroy her best mountains and waterfalls.

• Author: Cooray, Prasanna S.
• Position: Biodevastation - Power generation more important than the environment

Sri Lanka has a very dismal past record with regard to dams, but is planning to go ahead with yet another disastrous dam-building project with the assistance of the Japanese government. It is said that Japanese yen 33,265 million is to be lent by the Japanese Bank for International Corporation (JBIC), and the agreement between the two governments was signed on March 27, 2002. The proposed Upper Kothmale Hydro Power Project is being undertaken to generate 150 MW of electricity. The destruction it is going to cause to the environment, lives of the people living in the area, and the entire economy of the country (despite what the government says about this project) is known to be enormous. If this project is carried out, it will completely destroy the prevailing ecology of the central hills, increase the threat of land slides in the area, make seven of the country's most beautiful waterfalls go dry, and disastrously affect the livelihood of over 600 families by uprooting them from their homelands.

The Harm Big Dams Have Already Done

The dams that were built under the accelerated Mahaweli, Samanalawewa and Lunugamwehera projects have all proven to be failures, not only in environmental terms but also socially and economically. In the initial years it was said about the Mahaweli project (started in 1977 in the Central and North Central provinces of Sri Lanka) that on completion it would generate enough electricity not only for the entire country, but also for export to South India. Today, 25 years later, almost 45% of the country's population still live without this "luxury," and the whole country is plagued by long hours of power cuts, never mind the failed promise of export to South India.

Siltation in the large dams is a big problem, especially in the tropical countries. Not only are all of the large dams in Sri Lanka filled with silt to the extent of 40-60% of their total capacity, they have also failed miserably in providing both electricity and water (for agriculture). So to the question, "What has been the net outcome of these gigantic projects at the end, on the environment and also on the socioeconomic development of the country?" the simple answer is "Total disaster."

As to the social impact of the big dam projects, many researchers have shown the extent of the misery that has been caused to the lives of the poor people who were displaced from their original land. Prof. Tudor Silva (of Department of Sociology, Peradeniya University...