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Uma Oya: A stream of negligence
Serious lapses by the contractor and negligence by the then Government to prevent the heavy seepage of water in the excavation of the Uma Oya tunnel have plunged thousands of people into a hell hole of disastrous misery and destitution, an experts’ committee has reported.
The experts’ report, a copy of which was obtained by the Sunday Times, says the contractor for the multi-million-dollar project has not taken adequate measures to seal off the water leak although two months have lapsed since it was detected.
Uma Oya Project: Report by experts point to negligence by the contractor and the then government (file pic)
Repeated warnings by the Central Environmental Authority (CEA) about the dangers arising from not taking adequate measures to prevent adverse effects have been ignored by the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resource Management, the second report submitted by CEA stated.
In a letter to the Ministry last year, the CEA had highlighted that adequate measures had not been taken to prevent water spillovers and landslides at construction sites. The worst affected areas were Puhulpola and Welimada. Even in 2011, similar disasters had taken place due to the negligence of the contractors and the implementing body, the Irrigation Ministry, but lessons had not been learnt from these. In that year, the then CEA Chairman, D. W. Prathapasinghe, had warned that if adequate mitigation measures were not taken, the adverse effects could continue even after the project was completed.
However, the CEA too had conducted monitoring only once in 2012 and once in 2014. The project began in 2011 after an agreement with the Iranian Contractor, FARAB Energy and Water Project Company, was signed the previous year.
The experts’ report says the absence of a proper monitoring body was the main reasons why the failures by the contractor to adhere to standards went unchecked.
A Cabinet Subcommittee including a number of Cabinet ministers and politicians representing the area has been appointed to evaluate the present status of the project by taking into account the experts’ report and the CEA’s report. The Cabinet subcommittee will then make recommendations on the future course of action regarding the controversial and widely-criticised project. The subcommittee will meet for the first time next week.
Most of the conditions laid down by the CEA have not been met. The implementing body, the Irrigation Ministry, was required to appoint a monitoring committee comprising members from the CEA, the Geological Mines Bureau, the National Building Research Organisation and other relevant agencies. However this monitoring committee was not set up by the Ministry.
The experts were appointed by the new President Maithirpala Sirisena to probe how the groundwater had depleted in the area. A survey conducted last month found more than two million cubic metres of ground water had been lost from the area. The leakage continues and hundreds of families continue to suffer but a deadline has not been set by the experts to stop the leakage.
The report presented to the President points out that the contractor has not carried out adequate surface geological investigations prior to the excavation.
The 12-member experts’ panel included Jagath Gunathilake, head of department of Geology at the University of Peradeniya, and other academics, specialists and senior officials from the Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau.
The experts also point out that adequate testing or procedures outlined in the contract have not been carried out to prevent or minimise the dangers.
According to the report, “the contractor does not possess the required resources to effectively seal-off the water ingress (seepage) and is making arrangement to procure necessary resources”.
Thus the experts note that it will be difficult to set a deadline for when the leak would be sealed.
Observations by the CEA also highlight that disposal of construction waste has not been done in a systematic manner, thus causing damage to the environment and water sources.
The CEA report recommends further investigations to determine if the construction would increase the risk of landslides due to the tunnel being constructed to connect Puhulpola and Dyraba tanks, and the areas where water resources have dried up.
More investigations are also needed to determine whether a further depletion of water resources would occur as project work continues and whether it would cause instability in the geological conditions in the area, the report says.