Environmental Concerns Addressed But Effectiveness Yet To Be Known

• Upper Kotmale Hydro Power Plant

By Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema

The government says addressing the environmental concerns when constructing the Upper Kotmale hydro power plant has resulted in the decline of the energy units generated by the plant.

Power and Energy Minister Champika Ranawaka said the plant was expected to generate 575 energy units (GWs per hour) according to the initial plan and that it has now been reduced to 410 energy units.
He told The Sunday Leader that the initial plan for constructing a reservoir was also shelved due to environment concerns and a pond has been built instead.
“The initial project plan was severely altered to address the environmental concerns and it has been successful,” the Minister said.
Environmental activist Jagath Gunawardena agreed that the government has addressed the environmental concerns quite satisfactorily. “The construction of the power plant has been rather satisfactory in relation to addressing environmental concerns as the authorities have tried to mitigate most of the harm,” he said.
He explained that the Central Environment Authority (CEA) rejected the environmental impact assessment (EIA) submitted by the project five times before finally granting approval after the project was altered to address the concerns.
“According to the original plan, seven water falls in the area were to be affected, but now only the St. Claire’s waterfall is affected,” he noted. According to Gunawardena, some of the steps taken to address the environmental concerns would take some time before one could assess if the measures taken have been satisfactory.
Citing an example, he said that an endemic species of land snails known as Ravana had to be relocated to another area.
“Only time will tell if the relocation has been successful,” he said.
However, Gunawardena pointed out that while most concerns have been addressed there are also some that cannot be addressed.
The threat of landslides and siltation of the tank are difficult to address, he said.
The environmentalist noted that the government would have to spend large sums of money to de-filter the tank.
As for the threat of landslides due to the current climate changes, Gunawardena said it would be an issue that cannot be addressed, but would require caution.
Nevertheless, Minister Ranawaka says the government has addressed the issue of siltation and the threat of landslides as well.
He said space has been left for siltation in the Upper Kotmale hydro power plant project.
“Space has been left for siltation and the pond can function without any siltation issues for 100 years,” he said.
He added that re-enforcements have been put up around the pond to prevent the project from being affected by landslides.
“Measures have been taken to ensure that the surrounding areas would not be prone to a landslide threat,” he explained.
According to Ranawaka, steps have been taken to plant 300,000 trees in the area surrounding the Upper Kotmale project together with the private estates in the area.
“The government also had to incur a massive cost to relocate a species of frog that is endemic to the area,” he added.
The government, Ranawaka notes has taken extra precautions to address the environmental concerns that were raised.
The initial work in commencing operations in the plant has already commenced with the filling of the tank.The Upper Kotmale hydro power plant is expected to be fully commissioned by end of March, 2012.