President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and World Bank representatives inspected a pumping station at Nagalagam Street, Colombo, on Friday.
The Metro Colombo Urban Development Project was planned in 2012 by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, when he was the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development.
It includes 55 sub-projects. The Nagalagam Street Pumping Station is one of its sub-projects.
The main objective of the sub-project is to control floods in Colombo and to avoid the pollution caused by the depletion of water in the canals during the dry season. Five pumps which can discharge 30 cubic metres of water per second into the Kelani River and two pumps carrying 12 cubic metres of water per second from the Kelani River into the canals have been installed at the pumping station. It also has two automatic locking doors and a control system.
The total cost of the project is US $ 321 million. The World Bank has provided a concessional loan of US $ 213 million, while the Government has provided US $ 108 million for the project.
Project Director A.H. Thushari told the President and the World Bank representatives that the project will be completed within the next few months.
Simultaneously, 47 km of roads will be developed in selected areas. The project also includes the development of the Viharamahadevi Park, Crow Island Beach Park and the Beddagana Wetland Park.
World Bank’s Vice President for the South Asia Region, Hartwig Schafer, State Ministers Nalaka Godahewa and Mohan P. de Silva and officials also participated.