President opens Upper Kotmale tunnel: Sri Lanka’s longest tunnel

President Mahinda Rajapaksa opened the Upper Kotmale tunnel yesterday. This tunnel which is 12.9 km in length is the longest tunnel in Sri Lanka. Here President Mahinda Rajapaksa on an inspection tour of the tunnel. Ministers Patali Champika Ranawaka, A Thondaman, CB Ratnayake, Deputy Ministers Muthu Sivalingam, Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Premalal Jayasekera, Governor Tikiri Kobbekaduwa, Chief Minister Sarath Ekanayake and Japanese Ambassador Kunio Takahashi were also present. Left: An aerial view of the Upper Kotmale Project. Picture by Sudath Silva

Upper Kotmale project

Achieving another milestone in the country’s development drive, President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday opened the longest tunnel which would carry water from the Kotmale reservoir to the under ground power station under the Upper Kotmale Hydro Power project which adds 150 MW of power to the national grid.

This project which is estimated to cost Rs. 44 billion is funded by the Government of Japan and Ceylon Electricity Board. The construction of the project commenced in 2006.

This concept of the project was first mooted by the Sri Lankan authorities in 1968 under the Mahaweli scheme. But this project was not implemented under the accelerated Mahaweli Development Scheme of the UNP Government.

As per the provision in the National Environment Act of 1998, the Environment clearance was granted to the Upper Kotmale Power Project. There were several objections to the project initially and they were settled by the courts of law. The project was implemented under five phases.

The Japanese Government provided a loan of Japanese Yen 33,265 million while the CEB makes an investment of Rs 5,931 million for the project.

It is targeted to generate 409 GWH of electricity annually by this project and the installed capacity is 150MW. The dam will be constructed across the Kotmale stream. The length of the dam is 180 metres and the height 35.5 metres. CP