UNP @ DEVELOPMENT

The Mahaweli project – testament to

UNP’s political will and commitment

to Nation’s progress

From time

immemorial our

ancestors have

used the water

resources to

develop our

irrigation system.

The Kala Weva,

Parakrama

Samudraya, Tissa

Weva,

Basawakkulama,

Thopa Weva, Elahera canal, Jaya Ganga and

many others bear testimony to the irrigation

development achievements of our civilization.

Similarly, right down history the need to harness

the Mahaweli waters flowing into the sea for

National development was also long felt. Our

ancestors for the first time tried to use the

Mahaweli waters to boost paddy cultivation

during the first century after Christ, as stated in

our ‘Wangsa’ stories.

Mahaweli River

Hon. Dudley Senanayake

UNP @ DEVELOPMENT

It was in 1969, a system to harness the Mahaweli waters for National

development was inaugurated. The long time people’s earnest ambition to

harness the Mahaweli water for development was at last fulfilled by the

United National party (UNP), when the Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake

launched this gigantic project daring all odds. The full credit and honor must

go to the then P.M. Late Dudley Senanayake and former Minister of the UNP,

D.P. De Silva who was the Minister of lands, irrigation, power and energy at

that time.

A group of experts of the United Nations Development program (UNDP) and

the World Food and Agriculture presented the Mahaweli development

blueprint to the SL Govt. in 1969. On the basis of the blueprint, the Mahaweli

project was to be in three phases and be completed in 30 years.

Late Dudley Senanayake under his leadership as the Prime Minister wasted

no time, and began negotiations immediately with the World Bank to secure

aid in this direction. The negotiations were so successful that the World Bank

agreed to grant the loan for the commencement of the prodigious and

ambitious Mahaweli development project, and a pact was signed.

On the 28th of February 1970, at an auspicious time, the Late Dudley

Senanayake laid the foundation stone with his own hands at Polgolla, Kandy

inaugurating the Mahaweli development program formally.

However, unfortunately, in May 1970 the United Front (UF) Alliance Govt.

was installed in power. The alliance which constituted of the SLFP, along

with Lanka Samasamaja (LSSP) and Communist (CP) left oriented parties

viewed this National development program which could boost the economy

and make a major contribution to country’s development with a ‘squint’ eye,

thereby subordinating the all important national interests to parochial selfish

party interests. As a result, the UF alliance postponed the development

UNP @ DEVELOPMENT

project on the false pretext that the pact signed by the UNP with the World

Bank was a betrayal.

Fortunately for the country and the Nation, the UNP was returned to power

with a 5 /6 th majority in 1977. This served as a boon to the entire nation, as

it enabled the Mahaweli accelerated development program to be

commenced under the leadership of the Late

President JR Jayawardena. Late Gamini Dissanayake

who was appointed as the Minister of Irrigation,

energy and Highways undertook to shoulder the full

responsibility cast on him by the Nation to complete

this colossal Mahaweli accelerated development

program.

The UNP which duly discerned the Victoria Dam as the e preliminary step in

respect of the Mahaweli development accelerated program, constructed this

Dam. The latter facilitated the supply of water to a vast area which covered

an extent of 200,000 acres. This Dam was constructed about four miles

away from the Taldeniya Town.

The Victoria Dam

Hon. Gamini Dissanayake

UNP @ DEVELOPMENT

The Victoria diversion enabled the water flow via the Mahaweli ganga by the

erection of the gigantic Dam. This is the SL’s tallest Dam measuring 338 feet

high and 1400 feet long. A sluice gate at its middle comprises four parts,

each 30 feet high and with a 50 foot base.

The Victoria

Dam

nourished a

land area of

730 square

miles and

could store

four lakhs

15000 cubic

acres of

water. The

water supplied by the dam for irrigation purposes annually is 926 000 cubic

acres. The power grid which was constructed in conjunction with it could

produce 370 megawatts of electricity!

The Mahaweli water collected by the Victoria dam were diverted to the

paddy fields through the Minipe canals. To facilitate this diversion of the

Mahaweli tide to the Minipe canals, a new canal was constructed 500 feet

below. The streams built on the Southern bank of the Canal helped in the

cultivation and in the harvest of paddy fields on 73600 acres of land on both

sides of the canal.

Likewise, the Yoda canal on the Southern Bank of Minipe diverted the

Mahaweli water collected by the Victoria Dam to cultivate 200,000 acres of

land in Mahiyanagana and Maduru Oya.

UNP @ DEVELOPMENT

It is believed that because the Yoda canal and the Ulhitiya Oya are joined to

the Dam, the amount of water that can be collected is immense. The

reservoir had the capacity to develop 10,000 acres of land.

Because of the UNP’s bold and far sighted decision to design the Mahaweli

development project to develop human resources, massive job opportunities

were generated. Consequent upon this employment boom the economy of

the country thrived. The affluence of the people grew by leaps and bounds.

This project and concept which never received the attention of other Govts.

formed by other parties, made the UNP stand out in history as the only party

which harnessed the hitherto untapped vast natural resources of the

country for the benefit of the people. The giant projects made the country’s

economy blossom on a scale never before witnessed in SL.

To the dismay of all, the subsequent leftist prone Govts. could not develop

these projects to their full potential, whereby the miraculous fruits of the

UNP’s labors were wasted. Not only the Mahaweli, but even the other giant

projects ad programs of the UNP got stuck without progress. Lack of

resourcefulness, vitality and patriotic interests took toll of the country.

The former leader of the UNP, Late JR

Jayawardena who launched a new

economic order for the country fuelled by

the mammoth projects and programs, the

UNP initiated, opened the eyes and minds

of all to the growth and development

achieved by other countries by introducing

the open economic policies to SL which

proved a tremendous success. JR

Hon. J R Jayawardena

UNP @ DEVELOPMENT

Jayawardena made SL which was considered a puny Island with a feeble

economy into a giant viable economy capable of matching other

economically successful countries in the world.

It is very unfortunate that the left prone Govts. Which came to power after

1994, however could not take advantage of the policies and programs

initiated by the UNP. By continuously following retrograde policies and

parochial ‘chintana’ concepts they turned the clock back on SL’s economic

plans, programs and country’s development. The present economic impasse

is part and parcel of these failures.