Gal Oya Development Project in Sri Lanka

Gay Oya valley is in the Uwa and Eastern Provinces. It includes the famous Senanayake Samudraya and Bird Island too.  Started in 1949, Gal Oya development project is an irrigation project based on the Tennessee valley project in the USA. The project in the USA was introduced in 1933 and was to provide navigation, electricity generation, flood control, fertilizer manufacturing and economic development of the Tennesee Valley region.  It was a success in the USA as it decentralized power and increased the living slandered of Tennessee valley inhabitants.

Figure1. Plan of the Tennesee Valley project in USA.

The government of Sri Lanka aimed a similar effect by starting Gal Oya project.  It was initiated to provide water, produce sugar, hydro power and agricultural products. 42, 000 acres land was expected to use for irrigation. The Gal Oya Development Board was given all the rights for design, construction, operation and maintenance.  This project had a community development approach, as it involved organizing the farmers, training them and providing them with equipment’s and land.

Eventhough, Hon. D. S. Senanayake dreamed, “Gal Oya has become almost a household word. It is symbolic of the new Lanka, may it obtain fulfilment speedily and herald the progress of our march towards self-sufficiency”, Gal Oya project was not as successful as the Tennessee valley project. It did not provide the outputs the government was aiming, mostly because of poor management, inadequate training and poor interconnections.

The 50% of the colonist were from eastern provinces. They were Tamils and Muslims.  Another 25% came from the interior Sinhala villages of Kandy region and Kegalla region. Remaining 25% is from the other parts of the country.  The first ethnic riots in the island after independence were recorded during the Gal Oya project.  Gal Oya workers protested against the Tamil staff in GODB. This has a connection with the “Sinhala Only” slogan which was popular at that time. The workers were against the idea of building a dam in the “Purana areas” to benefit Tamils and Muslims.  With the riots, a year after, the GOBD was dismissed.

Later in 1966, the Dudly Senanayake appointed a committee to evaluate the Gal Oya project.

It is said that the project had more expenditure than the expected outputs. As today, the Gal Oya communities are in a peaceful state as they were the third and the fourth generations of the original colonists. They have been building a good connection among them in the process of building a society.