Natural resources can be broadly classified as renewable and non-renewable resources. Agriculture, which includes paddy cultivation, vegetables, fruits including grapes, seafood, forestry, water resources etc fall under the renewable category. The non-renewable resources are primarily mineral resources.
In an article published in the Sunday Times FT on September 25, 2004 under the title “ISGA Eyes Lion’s Share” I effectively pointed out that the LTTE was trying to take control of a major portion of Sri Lanka’s marine, maritime off shore and natural resources. It is a great blessing that that the ISGA (Interim Self Governing Authority) was not implemented by the then Government and if so the rest of the country would have been subservient to an independent state of Tamil Eelam.
Now that the LTTE menace is over we must look at development of natural resources in the eight districts - Amparai, Batticaloa, Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Mullaitivu, Trincomalee and Vavuniya. These districts are about 18,323 sq. kms or about 30 % of the total land area of 65 000 sq kms of Sri Lanka. The population of these districts according to the last Census carried out in 1995 is 2.6 million which is about 10 per cent of the total population of Sri Lanka estimated at 19 –20 million. Therefore those who advocate traditional homelands for one community should realize that 10 % of the population in the country occupies nearly 30 % of the land area and the rest 90 % occupy the balance of 70 % and no one can dispute this highly inequitable distribution.
Accordingly the development of these districts on a priority basis will eventually eliminate such discrepancies, as migration and integration of the major communities with trust and confidence will certainly take place.
I shall first deal with renewable resources particularly the availability of fresh water resources in the Jaffna Peninsula. The underlying strata in the area are Miocene limestone where there are large cavities. Below a certain depth there is salt water. However during the rainy season the fresh water collects over the dense salt water and the Jaffna farmers for centuries have been utilizing this water for cultivation without pumping excess water that would then be saline. The Geological Survey Department (now GSMB) had for over 40 years recorded the availability of fresh water in a number of observation wells especially in the Kondavil area. It is suggested that the Water Resources Board which carried out further research after 1980 carry out a reassessment of fresh water in the peninsula for cultivation and domestic use. There is also fresh water in a spring at Keerimalai where an assessment should be made.
Fisheries is a major resource which contributed only 1.1 % as a share of GDP in 2008. The mean width of the coastal waters bordering these districts is about 25 kms and has a total length of 1,180 kms. The continental shelf of the area is 29,500 sq kms and also has 900,000 sq kms of the extended seabed. There are also shallow fish banks with a high density of valuable fish and prawns namely Gulf of Mannar, Pedro Bank and Palk Bay.
Accordingly there is very high potential for investment in the fisheries sector especially for deep-sea fishing. However the government to avoid foreign vessels excessively fishing in these waters must monitor such operations.
The forests are also a valuable resource and the total forest cover is over 806,765 Ha. out of a total 2,046,772 Ha for Sri Lanka (40 %). An integrated forestry management plan should be formulated for the area with sustainable logging and replantation. Indiscriminate clearance of forests will lead to negative effects for the whole country as it will cause climate change and bio diversity.
Out of the total forest cover stated above about 12 % is devoted to wild life protection. In these districts there are 13 sanctuaries, five national parks, one nature reserve and the only strict natural reserve in the country at Yala. A master plan should be drawn up to develop these parks and sanctuaries to attract both local and foreign tourists. The immediate needs are decent bungalows with improved living conditions..
The beaches along the eastern coastline such as Pasikudah, Arugam Bay, etc should also be developed as tourist attractions. A number of hot springs are located along a line running south-east to north-east from Nimalawa near Yala through Kapurella near Maha Oya, Dimbulagala and Trincomalee. The Geological Survey Department examined these hot springs in 1972 and waters analyzed showed that it has value as spas. The hottest spring is at Kapurella off Maha Oya. Every effort should be made to develop these hot springs as spas with possible Japanese assistance.
With reference to the mineral resources that are non renewable and have to be exploited systematically keeping in mind the environment, the major resource is the heavy mineral sands at Pulmoddai. This deposit that contains about 80 % of black sands has ilmenite, (Fe TiO2) rutile (TiO2) zircon (ZrO2) and monazite (thorium mineral) and also silimanite.
These are valuable industrial minerals that have wide applications in the paint and refractory industries. Monazite has the potential for conversion to nuclear power by perfection of the breeder reactors notably in Japan. The Ceylon Mineral Sands Corporation that has now been privatized has been exporting raw ilmenite, rutile and zircon for the past 46 years and no industry has been set up. There were proposals to set up a titanium pigment plant (for production of white paint) but these did not materialize. It is reliably learnt that a project has been launched recently for the upgrading of ilmenite.
On April 6, 2006, in an article in the Sunday Times FT, I wrote about the present state of this industry and hoped that it will call for the attention of the authorities entrusted for developing the region. Further I discovered three more promising heavy sands deposits when I surveyed the area along the coast from Nilaweli to Mulaitivu in 1980. These are at Nayaru, Poduwaikattumalai and Tavikalu. The total reserves of these deposits are over four million tons of ilmenite, 700,000 tons of rutile and 500, 000 tons of zircon. The Pulmoddai deposit is estimated to contain 6 million tons of heavy sands. The off shore reserves are over 900,000 tons. It must be stressed that these minerals are replenished every monsoon and is more of a renewable category.
Certain geologists were of the view that the major impediment in development of these heavy sands was the unavailability of excess electrical power this has now been resolved with the proposed coal power station at Sampur to be built by the private sector from India.
The glass sand deposit at Ampan Vallipuram was discovered by the Geological Survey in the early 1940s and should be investigated further for glass manufacture. The other coastal resources include a heavy sand deposit at Tirukkovil south of Batticaloa and large dune sand deposits inland along the stretch from Mulaitivu to Ampan Vallipuram and also inland from Kankesanturai. These dune sands are suitable for construction industry and should be evaluated.
During the period 1995 to 2002 the GSMB had issued a number of exploration licences to foreign companies to examine a large area of land in the northern and eastern provinces. The above-mentioned heavy sand deposits were under license to companies especially from Australia such as Iluka Resources, etc. The government should call for a detailed report from the GSMB as to the status of these licenses as the companies can claim exploration rights under the Mines and Minerals Law No.33 of 1992.
There is good potential for development of renewable energy resources in the districts. The deep Trincomalee sea canyon with depths of over 1500 meters is an ideal location for Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) taking the large temperature gradient of the sea water. Foreign collaboration for such a project should be actively pursued. A number of sites for generation of wind energy are located along the southeast and north east coast line and should be investigated.
In the area of non renewable energy I have been advocating the re-examination of the sedimentary rocks in the center of the Jaffna Peninsula consisting of Tertiary and Jurassic sediments with a thickness of over 4500 meters (Measlai). Further seismic surveys should be carried out and if promising exploratory drilling undertaken.
The shallow offshore areas north of the Mannar Island within our Maritime boundary is more promising for oil and gas than the Mannar basin. The Government should actively pursue blocking out this area and calling for bids. If the geological history of the Cauvery basin is carefully examined it is evident that Sri Lanka was connected to India from this narrow stretch up to 4800 years ago and not much sediments would have flown south due to this landmass. This area now submerged north of Mannar Island has good potential for gas as some large gas deposits have been recently discovered just north within the off shore areas of South East India.
In conclusion it is opportune for the Government to appoint a high-powered committee to look into the integrated development of the north and east. This committee should be given wide powers to assess the target areas for development of the above resources and also formulate a Master Plan. This Plan should identify the investment potential in the main areas such as agriculture, industry. fisheries, tourism and also human resources development to support such activity. Action should be taken to market such investment abroad by conducting seminars etc in financial centres such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia USA, UK and the EU countries.
Such investment opportunities should be promoted among the Sri Lankan Diaspora so as to strengthen national unity. International and multilateral investment agencies should also be approached for inflow of foreign capital to develop the areas.
It is important that infrastructure development should be pursued simultaneously as it is a vital requisite for natural resources development.
The writer is a Retired Economic Affairs Officer, UN ESCAP |
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