Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2021-05-10

Project of Silting of Reservoirs controlled by the Sri Lanka Mahaweli Authority

- Among the primary objectives of the construction of the Mahaweli Reservoirs, priority has been given to the supply of drinking water, providing water for agriculture and the generation of renewable energy. Nevertheless, the capacity of many of such reservoirs has been significantly reduced due to siltation, making it difficult to achieve the desired objectives of such reservoirs. It has been planned to implement a programme to remove silt and classify such silt in order to use them. Accordingly, the proposal made by the Minister of Irrigation to obtain a local or international Consultancy Service to prepare a basic feasibility report obtaining required data for surveying including all details pertaining to Polgolla, Victoria, Randenigala, Rantambe, Kalawewa and Bowathanna Reservoirs and to call for competitive bids nationally or internationally to select a suitable entity to remove silt in such reservoirs based on the above feasibility report, was approved by the Cabinet.