Speeches by Distinguished Guests
1985 April 12 Friday
Speech inaugurating Victoria Dam
Junius Jayewardene Mr. President Ministers, distinguished guests, friends.
I am proud to be present at an historic moment in Sri Lanka's development.
For centuries the Mahaweli Ganga has flowed unchecked through these hills.
With the commissioning today of the Victoria Dam, its energy is harnessed to a noble cause: the development of the full potential of your land, your natural resources and your people. [end p1]
This breathtaking engineering feat is a product of the modern age.
But it rests on a tradition stretching back some 2000 years.
In the days of your ancient kings, mighty irrigation works were at the heart of a flourishing civilization.
Mr. President, of one thing I am certain.
Together we have created this mighty work which will stand for decades as a sure sign of what friendship and co-operation can achieve.
I well recall the day when in August 1979 at the Commonwealth Conference in Lusaka I [end p2] handed your Prime Minister, Mr. Premadasa, a note saying that we had decided to give priority in our aid programme to this great endeavour.
When we set our hand to the task of helping you with this development, it was not only because the economists told us the investment was justified.
Nor was it simply because we supported your decision to accelerate the Mahaweli development programme.
It was because we felt we could with confidence endorse the economic policies your Government was committed to pursuing, and to [end p3] the success of which the Victoria Dam will contribute.
This was the largest contribution we had ever made to a single aid project.
That is the measure of our confidence in the future of Sri Lanka.
I am sure that confidence will prove to have been well founded.
Victoria has been unique.
But I can assure you that we hope to continue our co-operation with you, believing that you will continue to pursue sound long-term policies. [end p4]
Mr. President, Victoria also exemplifies the contribution that British consultants, manufacturers and contractors can make to your progress.
Sir Alexander Gibb and partners have designed and supervised the construction of dams throughout the world, many of them, like Victoria, breaking new ground in structure and technology.
Balfour Beatty Nuttall among other things successfully poured three quarters of a million cubic metres of concrete into Victoria. [end p5]
They have a record of achieving their objectives on time and within budget.
Preece Cardew and Ryder have designed and supervised the construction of what is already the largest power station in Sri Lanka, with potential for substantial further development.
These companies, and others like them, have a long record of success.
They compete with the best the world has to offer. [end p6]
Visitors from many countries will marvel at the Victoria Dam, at the functional elegance of the design and the quality of the engineering skills which went into this great achievement.
But development is not about concrete, however carefully poured, nor about power stations, however efficiently run; it is about people—their land, their work, their homes, their families, their future. [end p7]
It is people who have brought this project into being, people who have made sacrifices for it, people who will operate it, and people who will benefit.
So Mr. President, it gives me great pleasure to join you in declaring the Victoria Dam and Power Station well and truly commissioned.
May it fulfil its promise of a better life and a happy future for your people
25 July 2016
KEYNOTE SPEECH BY PROF. MOHAN MUNASINGHE, DURING THE CEREMONIES TO ENSHRINE TREASURES AT THE KALUGANGA DAM SITE
AYUBOWAN, VANAKAM, GREETINGS!
Reverend Sirs,
HE Maithripala Sirisena, President of Sri Lanka, Hon. Prime Minister, Hon. Ministers and Chief Ministers, Excellencies, Esteemed Guests and Fellow Sri Lankans,
It is a great privilege and pleasure to address you all on this momentous occasion. It is indeed most fitting that our leader, President Sirisena will be the one who is making history today with the formal enshrining of precious treasures at the site of the Moragahakanda-Kaluganga Development project.
First, this project is a shining symbol of the President’s commitment to strengthen national unity, reconciliation, peace and harmony. The Moragahakanda-Kaluganga scheme, executed under his personal supervision, is delivering on the promise to provide many benefits, including drinking water, irrigation facilities and power, especially to the impoverished people of the Rajarata. Such widespread benefits shared among all communities in the North-Central, Northern, Eastern and North-Western provinces, give true meaning and impetus to the President’s noble dream of a united and prosperous Sri Lanka.Furthermore, this project will benefit all citizens throughout Sri Lanka, by providing multiple outputs that will boost sustainable development. National sustainable development is another important element of our President’s vision, which he articulatedso clearly in his speech at the UN General Assembly in September 2016, when he endorsed the UN 2030 Agenda andthe Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), to the applause of world leaders.
Second, the project is also a symbol of the spirit of harmony that enables the government of unity to function effectively under the joint command of President Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe – two exceptional leaders who have created this unprecedented union of the two main political parties. In Sri Lanka’s post-independence history, the development of the Mahaweli river basin has been a common thread pursued by successive governments, irrespective of party rivalries. We owe much to the political giants of the modern period, who have consistently pursued the dream of strengthening the development nexus of agriculture, water and land. Starting with the father of the nation, D.S. Senanayakewho was a firm believer in rural development, these leaders came from both sides of the UNP-SLFP political divide, for example, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, C.P. De Silva, GaminiDissanayake and others. Starting from modest beginnings with the Mahaweli Master Plan of 1958, through the accelerated Mahaweli Development Programme launched in 1978, to the finish line today, there has been a remarkable consensus and policy continuity. So, the Moragahakanda-Kaluganga scheme truly represents the spirit of cooperation prevailing in the unity government.
Third, this project is the proud and most recent descendant of a long line of water-based infrastructure schemes that havecharacterised Sri Lanka’s hydraulic civilization for over 2500 years. Historically, the Moragahakanda reservoir was first constructed by King Wasaba in 111 AD. Building on the achievements of our ancestors in this way, not only provides tangible development benefits, but also strengthens vital social capital – the essential glue that binds our society together through shared Sri Lankan values, traditions, culture, beliefs, and practices. Time constraints do not permit me to expand on this rich dimension of our ancient civilization, but the well-known quote from King Parakramabahu (who built the famousParakrama Samudraya), captures the essence rather well. He said that “even a single drop of water should not be allowed to run into the ocean without serving human needs”.
This dam completes the fifth and last of the major reservoirs envisaged under the Accelerated Mahaweli Scheme (AMS). Mr. President, Mr. Prime Minister, it is especially gratifying for me to be celebrating this occasion with you and all Sri Lankan citizens, today. 35 years ago, while working as Senior Energy Advisor to President J.R. Jayewardena, I helped to implement the AMS – despite the warnings of even the World Bank and other major donors. Nevertheless, the government persisted, and the big Mahaweli dams built in the 1980s – Victoria, Randenigala-Rantembe, and Kotmale; and Upper Kotmale in 2012, became the pride of Sri Lanka, generating cheap electricity for many decades. The volume of the Moragahakandaand Kaluganga reservoirs together exceeds the volume of the Parakrama Samudraya by a factor of six. With this formal event at the Kaluganga reservoir today, you Mr. President are following in the footsteps of King Parakramabahu.
The total cost of the current Moragahakanda- KalugangaDevelopment project is estimated to be about Rs. 100 billion. It is an excellent example of sustainable development, providing multiple benefits that strengthen all three dimensions (economic, social and environmental) of the sustainable development triangle, which I first presented at the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, as a key element of the Sustainomicsframework for making development more sustainable.
Economic benefits include 25 megawatts added to the national electricity grid, and provision of irrigation water to about 87,000 farmers in the Matale, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and Trincomalee districts, during both the Yala and Maha seasons.The project will irrigate 82,000 ha of existing dry land and another 5.000 ha of new land. Annual inland fishing will rise by another 4,500 metric tons. The project will feed the IranamaduJaffna-Kilinochchi Water Supply scheme to provide drinking water to 300,000 people in Jaffna and 50,000 people in Kilinochchi. Provision of industrial water requirements, ecotourism and effective flood control are additional benefits of the project.
Social benefits include towns that are being developed to provide better facilities to communities in the project areas. Construction of Guruwela and New Laggala new towns is well under way, including post offices, health care centers, administrative buildings, schools for children, and police stations. Families living in the Kaluganga Dam construction areaare better off after being resettled just 5 km away, and compensation has been paid. The families affected under the Moragahakanda reservoir were also provided new lands. New farming technology is being introduced along with capacity building among newly settled farmers, through a 27 ha model farm at Guruwela, which will play a vital role in farmer training, supplying of planting materials for the new settlers, introduction of organic farming, and demonstrating the agriculture potential in the area nationwide.
Environmental protection is assured by the special attention paid to minimize impacts on the environment and biodiversity. About 1365 ha in the catchment of the Amban Ganga Basin has been reforested, while a buffer zone of 100m around Moragahakanda reservoir has been created by reforesting approximately 650 ha. An elephant corridor between Giritale – Minneriya nature reserve and Wasgamuwa National park has been created, while enriching the habitat. Tanks in adjacent nature reserves have been rehabilitated and invasive plantseradicated. An electric elephant fence has been installed around the resettlement area.
Most importantly, the project will strengthen the resilience of agro-ecological and socio-economic systems to the impacts of climate change. Just in the first half of 2016, Sri Lanka experienced both abnormally high temperatures and record rainfall. Furthermore, floods have ravaged the capital city, Colombo, at least five times in the last ten years, damaging vitalurban infrastructure. Floods and drought have also decimated the agricultural heartland of the country in recent decades, especially the dry zone covered by the Mahaweli schemes. Small farmers bear the brunt of climate variability and increasing unpredictability of the monsoons. By the end of thiscentury, the Maha crop will require 20% more water due to climate change. Across the country, farmers (especially the poor ones) face uncertain livelihoods. My institute, MIND, carried out a research study in the very districts covered by the Moragahakanda-Kaluganga scheme, where poor families rely critically on farming. We found that climate impacts couldreduce rice production and farm incomes, worsen poverty, inequality and malnutrition, increase rural to urban migration, and encourage the out-migration of women to low-skilled jobs in the Middle East. The Moragahakanda-Kaluganga project will help us adapt better to such climate change impacts.
Mr. President, you and your Mahaweli team deserve the highest praise and congratulations of all Sri Lankans. Although planned since 1958, Moragahakanda was sidelined for various reasons, until you resurrected interest in the scheme in 1994. We recall how you persisted with your dream and finally succeeded in laying the foundation stone for the project in 2007 (as Minister of Agricultural Development). In fact, the scheme to divert Mahaweli waters to the north as proposed by one Maithripala(ie. Minister Maithripala Senanayake) in the 1960s, is now nearing completion 50 years later, due to the steadfast commitment of another Maithripala (ie. President MaithripalaSirisena) !
Permit me to end on a slightly personal and emotional note. I was born in this beautiful and blessed country on this very day, many years ago. My heart is full. Thank you President Sirisena -- indeed, all Sri Lankans and especially the future generationswill thank you for this gift and applaud!
STHUTHI, NANDRI, THANK YOU !
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