Uma Oya Project Caused Landslides – Environmentalists

Development Vs. Environment Conservation….
by Hafsa Sabry(SUNDAY LIEDER)

Sri Lanka’s economic growth and infrastructure development, resulted in urbanisation of Colombo and other areas, which created many environmental issues, surface and ground water contaminations and a vast change in wild life and their habitats.If we look at how urbanisation is affecting the country, with particular focus on environment, the damage to the environment is high and it will increase in the near future.
The Uma Oya project has been highlighted in the media many times for the damage it has caused to the environment and how it has threatened the livelihood of the villagers in the Bandarawela area. The villagers complained and protested claiming the lack of ground water and the damages to their buildings were the results of the process of Uma Oya project which is to be continued with a special cabinet approval The Sunday Leader learns.
It is now one year (29.10.2015) since Meeriyabedda people lost their houses and the lives of beloved ones in the landslide after which the then government promised to build 75 houses whereas measures were in place to build only 50 houses for the victims. The environmentalists in the country claim the cause of the land slide to be the Uma Oya project in which the grilling and blasting method is used for rock breaking and tunnel boring. They claim that the vibration of this process is felt by the area where there is an inevitable risk of land slide in future like many other countries which underwent projects like Uma Oya around the world.
The construction company of the Uma Oya project and the National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB) joined hands in distributing water for the area residents as they were being obstructed to access the ground water for their domestic usage. An amount of 180,000L of clean drinking water is being distributed to the people who were affected by the project. People in the area also claimed that their wells have dried up and no water can be found under ground while their houses are being damaged by the process of the project and they live in fear of landslides.
The British after 1905 cleared the forests in the hill country to plant tea, rubber and coffee. After independence the local government cleared the rest for developments and urbanization which also resulted in causing landslides in the area.
An example of disaster caused by the anti-environmental Uma Oya project which have excavated mountains using grilled and blasting method, approximately 23 Km from Diabra to downstream of Ravana Ella is the Meeriyabedda land slide claimed Ravindra Kariyawasam, an environmentalist and a researcher at the Centre for Environmental and Nature Studies (CENS), adding that the vibration is felt by the land in the nearby villages which will eventually lead to a land slide.
In early 19th century in France, around 450 people and many villages in the East of the country had to face a sorrowful fate as a result of tunnel boring projects like Uma Oya. Sri Lanka will also face the same fate if the project is completed successfully claimed the environmentalists in the country. In the beginning of the 20th century Vajont a village in Italy, more than 2500 people died due to a land slide as a result of a tunnel boring projects in the village. Similarly, it was reported that the area along the Panama Canal, faced land slide 42 times while it was under construction.
There have been many cases around the world where people died and villages were destroyed due to landslides which were caused by multi-purpose tunnel boring projects. This is the reason why the environmentalists express concern over the environmental issues that exist in the Uma Oya project. Nevertheless, the respective government authorities in Sri Lanka claim the reason for landslides is natural disasters and, they completely neglect the facts of urbanisations and anti-environmental projects. The Uma Oya project will also have a golf playground and a luxury hotel with 2000 rooms in it, to which the constructions are already underway in the Haldamulla area, one of the most land slide affected areas of hill country.
However, The Sunday leader questioned the Uma Oya Project Director to clarify the truth behind the accusations of people in the area.
Responding to the questions Sunil De Silva said that the project has a special cabinet approval while the project is being carried out according to the approval of required authorities in the country. He also stated that the Uma Oya project had no link with the land slide in Meeriyabedda and the accusers should contact the National Building Research Organization (NBRO) to clarify what was the reason for the land slide in the area. “When there is a tunnel boring it drills at least 200-300 meters underground therefore there is a possibility for the ground water to enter into tunnels and the wells might be dried during the process, but this is not the first time in history that a tunnel boring project dries the ground water and yet, we have placed measures to aid the people in the area access the clean drinking water,” he said. He also said that when the ground water enter into the wells they seal it to prevent them from entering he also claimed that the ground water will be recovered after heavy rain falls adding that “We with NWSDB are planning to provide pipe-borne water for 2000 families in the area while we have already provided pipe borne water for 350 families”. He also claimed that the acquisition of land and houses are inevitable when there is a long tunnel project like Uma Oya in the area therefore the evaluation board is carrying out an assessment to compensate the people. The evaluation report is expected to be submitted in near future adding that the compensation will be paid once the report is submitted.
“It is true that people have some damages in their houses due to the process of the project but the process is approved by the Environmental Impact Assessment(EIA) and we have no illegal process in the project”, said the Project Director of Uma Oya.
When questioned the breaking method of grilling and blasting the Director claimed it to be the process of tunnel boring and this has been carried out in other tunnel boring projects in Sri Lanka as well. “But for the first time in Sri Lankan history we use large tunnel boring machines to grill tunnels which do not even produce noise pollution to the environment”, which he claims is an environmental friendly manner. He further noted that “this is large multi-purposed project in Sri Lanka and we do not dare to ignore the environment to carry out the project therefore, we consider the environment in the process while they were being approved by the EIA”.