To provide six million people in the northern dry region of Sri Lanka with water and to support the economic development of the country, the government is working on a complex water resources project. At the end of July, the groundbreaking ceremony was held for the construction of two water tunnels. Lahmeyer International in a joint venture with its partner Geoconsult (Austria) prepared the engineering designs and will supervise construction of the project over the next three years. The fact that the President of Sri Lanka, Maithripala Sirisena, alongside officials of the Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka, attended the ceremony is proof of the high significance of the USD 50 million project.
The two tunnels of the Kalu Ganga – Moragahakanda Transfer Canal (KMTC) will have a diameter of 5 m and connect the two large reservoirs of the same name over a total distance of 8 km. They are only two out of a total of nine tunnels that Lahmeyer has engineered for the Mahaweli Water Security Investment Program (MWSIP). The largest tunnel will be over 26 km long with a diameter of 8 m to be built by TBM starting next year.
Experienced planning and supervision
The MWSIP is a massive development program being implemented with over USD 2 billion of financial support from the Asian Development Bank. It is being carried out by the Sri Lankan Ministry for Mahaweli Development and Environment and includes the construction of 260 km of canals and tunnels, dams and irrigation systems to transfer 1 billion cubic meters of water annually from the Mahaweli River Basin.
Lahmeyer International is the Program Management, Design, and Supervision Consultant (PMDSC) with responsibilities for overall tender design and construction supervision of the MWSIP. In addition to these engineering responsibilities, our joint venture performs core tasks related to simulation modelling, environmental and social safeguards, strategic communications, training and capacity building.