Sunday Times 2
On a slow boat to Kotte
While taking my first drive over the new bridge at Battaramulla vivid memories of this area during the late 1970s came to mind, when as the DGM of the Reclamation Board (now SLLR&DC) I boldly undertook the task of reclamation work for the New Parliament and Administration Complex at Kotte on behalf of the Board. No other organisation present at the meeting presided over by President J.R. Jayewardene held at the UDA auditorium down D.R. Wijewardene Mawatha, was willing to undertake this massive task. Others present were Prime Minister R. Premadasa, Dr. Anandatissa de Alwis, Gamini Dissanayake and of course, R.Paskaralingam Secretary.
While anticipating a ceremonial boat ride to take place under the new bridge very soon, what flashed through my mind was the history of this same waterway as related to me then (1979) by some very senior residents of this area which they had seen as schoolchildren- boats from the Kelani Ganga arriving at Kotte.
Although the Dutch rulers left our shores centuries ago, remnants of many works done by them still haunt our memories when embarking on various development projects such as the much talked of development of the City of Colombo. One such is the possible revival of the ancient boat traffic route ( that history records) from Kelani Ganga to Kotte, the only obvious route being through the much neglected Kittanpahuwa Ela..
It is shocking that this major development project had been repeatedly sidelined despite the hard work of a small group of national minded local professionals who were willing to expand on a subject already initiated by the Irrigation Department in the mid 1980s; the proposal to reposition the Dutch built Kelani South bund as existing at present to the correct and rightful position which will bring about many benefits in addition to reopening the Kittanpahuwa Ela for boat traffic.
This group had this subject restudied by a London Based Group of Consultants at no cost to the government. In fairness it is my duty to place on record the names of two live wires not among the living who were responsible to find the necessary funds for this private study. They are late Eng Annesley de Soyza from Australia and late Farouk Salley from the U.K. who lost all their money in this effort (Report and all Approvals available).
During the pre-Dutch period it was Kittanpahuwa Ela that drained the flood waters of the massive Madiwela Catchment of 19 sq. miles into Kelani Ganga discharging under the Battaramulla bridge then through the Madinnagoda bridge in Rajagiriya but abruptly ending at the Gothatuwa Bund of the Dutch era. The way to overcome this problem is again by repositioning the South bund as mentioned earlier. For other details see Report on Cabinet approved study on Kelani Ganga (Left Bank) Unprotected Areas dated 29th April 2009.
Now with a closer study of the area around the mouth of Kelani Ganga it can be seen that the famous Hamilton Canal too empties into the Kelani on the opposite bank of Kelani. This exposes a massive integrated tourist development potential if only we can connect the many developments taking place on the left bank of Kelani with the Hamilton canal that flows through the already well developed tourist areas north of Colombo on the right bank not to mention the presence of the historical Muthurajawela Wetland on the opposite bank of the Hamilton Canal.
All over the world where a major river flows through or by the side of a capital city the best developments are seen on either bank of the river. The best examples the writer can mention are the river Thames of London, river Seine of Paris, river Nile of Egypt and river Volga of Moscow to mention a few. But what have we done with our beautiful Kelani Ganga that flows by the side of our capital city Colombo?
Kelani too has all the potential to be similarly developed or better than the above mentioned examples not only for tourism but even river navigation possibly up to Ambatale etc. The River Nile that the writer had seen not only allows navigation but also accommodates floating night clubs too.
It is time someone somewhere calling himself a genuine Sri Lankan looks at this subject free from prejudice or jealousy on how much it can benefit our beloved country and all the benefits that will open up to the future generations of our country, yet to come
(The writer is a Senior Deputy Director of Irrigation (Retd))