Upper Kotmale Hydro Power Plant

Colombo: The construction of the Upper Kotmale Hydro Power Plant project will be completed by 2011. It will contribute 409 Giga Watt hours (GWh) to the national power grid annually, project director Shavindranath Fernando said..

The first phase of the project, which was evacuation of people from the land and acquiring of land has been completed now. About 480 families were evacuated from the area.

“The total project costs US $384 million. US $297 million is met by a Japanese loan provided on an interest of 0.95% repayable in 30 years with a 10 year moratorium.

He said the first phase of the construction work has been completed and the second phase which includes completing the tunnelling and the underground powerhouse will commence soon. “We will also concentrate on improving the infra structure of the area by the end of the project,” Mr. Fernando said.

“The construction of the project is done by two Japanese companies MAEDA and NISHIMATSU while the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) is monitoring and facilitating the project,” said Mr. Furusawa, an Engineer of MAEDA.

Commenting on the environmental impact of the project especially on St. Clair waterfall, the project’s Environmental Specialist said the waterfall would unfortunately go dry. “But we hope to release its water at least an hour a day so that the public could view it at least during that time,” he said.