The Cabinet has approved a revised three-year plan costing Rs. 15,077.82 million (about Rs. 15.07 billion) to finish the remaining work on the Kolonnawa Stormwater Drainage and Environment Improvement Project.

The Minister of Transport, Highways and Urban Development submitted a restructured plan and updated cost framework to the Cabinet. The project was launched in 2019 but suffered severe delays after the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and the economic recession that followed.

Under the new plan, the 3,250-metre Salalihini Mawatha canal will be completed and the 3,868-metre Dahamwala canal built. Water retention ponds and storage areas will be created to hold water during heavy rain.

Work will also include repairing the 4,475-metre Passiyana canal and the 650-metre Dandukotuwa canal, and restoring the Dandutota flood gate. Three mobile pumps will be deployed, each able to pump stormwater at a rate of one cubic metre per second.

An estimated Rs. 1,015 million has been set aside under a relief package for families affected by land acquisition and by disruption to their livelihoods while the work is carried out.

Background

Kolonnawa lies on the eastern edge of Colombo, in a low-lying part of the city’s drainage basin, and areas around it are regularly affected by flooding during heavy rain. Stormwater drainage there depends on a network of canals, retention areas, gates and pumps that must work together, which is why the plan covers several canals, a flood gate and pumping equipment rather than a single structure.

The project’s timeline has run well past its original schedule. It began in 2019, and the Cabinet decision now sets a three-year period to finish the remaining components.

What it means

For residents of flood-prone neighbourhoods around Kolonnawa, the decision restarts work that had stalled, but the three-year timeline means the full set of canals, ponds and pumps will not be in place for coming rains. Heavy showers are already forecast: the Department of Meteorology has issued an Amber advisory for rainfall exceeding 100 mm in parts of the Western Province, valid until 3.30 p.m. on 21 October.

Families whose land is needed for the canals are covered by the Rs. 1,015 million relief package, which is intended to compensate for land acquisition and loss of livelihood.