New Wellawatte-Battaramulla passenger boat service offers traffic-free travel option

Boats enroute to Wellawatte

Embarkation jetty in Battaramulla

• Boats operated by ex-Navy personnel to ply waterway every 30 minutes from next week

By Shailendree Wickrama Adittiya

A passenger boat service between Wellawatte and Battaramulla will be launched on 11 March as a public service and allows passengers to travel between the two locations in 30 minutes. 

The scenic route follows Colombo’s canals, starting from Diyatha Uyana, going past Nawala and Kirulapone, and ending near the Savoy Cinema in Wellawatte.

The boat ride will go both ways, with a boat leaving every 30 minutes, from 6.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. The service may be extended to the night in the future, depending on safety measures being put in place.

Announcing the launch of the service yesterday, Sri Lanka Land Development Corporation (SLLDC) Chairman Major General (Rtd.) M.R.W. De Zoysa said the main purpose of the boat service was to offer a cheap and quick way for people to travel within the city.

With a ticket priced at Rs. 60, the boat service is affordable while also allowing passengers to avoid city traffic, especially during rush hour. Battaramulla is an administrative city which attracts a lot of people due to the large number of offices in the area. In addition to this, both the Registration of Persons Department and the Immigration and Emigration Department, which a large number of people visit to apply for their NICs and passports, are located in Battaramulla. 

Sri Lanka Land Development Corporation Chairman Major General (Rtd). M. R. W. De Zoysa

“A survey we conducted showed that people who travel from Colombo as well as the suburbs to Battaramulla spend two hours on the road, especially with traffic. For some, the journey involves taking three or four buses and the cost comes to Rs. 300-400,” De Zoysa said.

He added that the passenger boat service was expected to reduce the traffic in the area to a certain extent. In fact, taking the boat from Wellawatte to Battaramulla allows passengers to avoid multiple heavy-traffic areas along the route that result in hours wasted on the road.

The route taken by the boat is an impressive one, offering passengers a view of various buildings along the way as well as a number of birds and even the odd crocodile and water monitor. However, the main concern when travelling along the canals is the cleanliness of the surroundings, as the canals in Colombo are known for their fetid odour and murky waters.

De Zoysa assured that measures were being put in place to clean the canals and maintain them. During a media tour yesterday, cleaning efforts were spotted along the way, with garbage being collected on boats to be later discarded.

“We saw certain issues with the maintenance of these canals in the past but we have started cleaning them. We have a 50 km canal length to clean and maintain which will be done with the manpower, machinery and funds currently available to us,” he commented.

The lack of the stench that usually emanates from canals was also a relief during the media tour, although trash - everything from glass bottles to garbage bags - was seen floating alongside the boat.

“It’s not only rain water that gets added to the canals but also dirty water and waste water,” De Zoysa said, explaining that he had spotted garbage as well as waste dumped in the canal during inspectional visits to various areas.

De Zoysa added that whoever polluted the waterways should stop doing so as it was a huge problem in the country and made a request to all those living along the canals to not dump their garbage into the waterways.

One of the other concerns about the passenger boat service is safety. Safety jackets are mandatory for all passengers and the boats are operated by retired Sri Lanka Navy personnel who have experience operating boats.

According to De Zoysa, the Beira Lake passenger boat service from Colombo Fort to Union Place saw a lull after the Easter attacks as the public was not too keen on taking the passenger boat in the weeks that followed.

“There were slight disruptions, especially with the Easter attacks with people not wanting to travel as much by boat, but we see the service picking up once again,” he said, adding that as an investment, the passenger boat service was making a loss to the point that cancellation of the service was considered. “We continued taking a business risk and now it is making a profit,” De Zoysa explained.

The Beira Lake passenger boat service is operating continuously and De Zoysa said a number of travel agents have incorporated it into their tour packages. The service will be expanded in the future.

The SLLDC also plans on adding more routes for the passenger boat service to operate along, depending on the success of the current services. 

“We shouldn’t take on more than we can manage and must expand depending on the success of the projects already implemented,” the SLLDC Chairman said, adding that there was a lot which went into implementing such projects, from purchasing boats to maintaining financial stability. This is in addition to other projects and services that come under the purview of the SLLDC.

As for expansions that the Wellawatte-Battaramulla service will see in the future, De Zoysa said plans were already in motion to add to the current fleet of two 18-passenger and two eight-passenger capacity boats. The boats are not high-speed boats and travel the 10 km canal length at 15-20 knots.

More 18-passenger capacity boats will be added within the month and this will, without a doubt, be a service people travelling between the two cities can immensely benefit from.

- Pix by Lasantha Kumara