Mahaweli Development Project in Sri Lanka

Mahaweli Development Project

Mahaveli basin covers 9 provinces and total 15% of the country’s population.  Started in 1977, the Mahaweli development project aimed to convert the Mahaveli River to cultivate in the dry zone of the country to boost rice production and to generate hydropower.  This project covered over 900,000 acres land area.  The initial plan was started with the help of World Bank with the idea of building a 5 mile tunnel and a hydropower station at Ukuwela.  The project was initially planned for 30 years (Mahaweli Development Programme, Sri Lanka, n.d.). Figure 1 shows the planned reservoirs along the Mahaweli River, from hill country towards the low lands of dry zone, under the Mahaweli development program.

Figure 1. Plan of Reservoirs along the Mahaweli River obtained from Ceylon Electricity board’s knowledge centre.

Accelerated Mahaweli Program

The new government viewed Mahaweli Development program as a long term project and decided to shorten the time frame, thus, created an accelerated Mahaweli programme.  It aimed to construct 6 dams in five years.  This project includes Kotmale, Victoria, Maduru Oya, Randenigala, Rantambe, Ulhitiya, and Ratkinda reservoirs. The Mahaweli Development Authority (1979) was given responsibilities for the project.

The land allocation and selection of settlers were done through Mahaweli systems H, C, B, G and A. The figure 2 shows the locations of the above mentioned systems.

Figure 2. The locations of Mahaweli systems

The Mahaweli project took colonists from all the other parts of the country, including Kandiyan regions. These peasants were put together in a colony artificially made for them. This created a tension among the settlers as they were totally unrelated and forced to form new connections with each other. This program also resulted in higher suicide rates in the country. People felt alienated and lonely in the new colonies which were foreign to them.