Cabinet approves Rs. 1 b Colombo Flood Mitigation Project

Cabinet this week approved a Rs. 1 billion project to mitigate floods in Colombo on a proposal made by the President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his capacity as the Minister of Defence and Urban Development.

The Government said Colombo Metropolitan Region is highly vulnerable to the effects of floods and on the direction of the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development, the Sri Lanka Land Reclamation and Development Corporation (SLLRDC) has initiated several urgent short-term measures to mitigate flood in and around Colombo. Water retention facilities around Waters Edge, Diyawanna Garden, and at the lake at Sadaham Sevana of Gothami Road Colombo, are to be widened with dredging and drainage improvement.

These projects include cleaning of existing canal system, dredging of flood retention areas, creating water retention lakes, and controlling haphazard filling of low lying lands, etc.

Medium term flood mitigatory measures have also been identified and implementation of these measures will be carried out under the Metro Colombo Urban Development.