Sri Lanka unveils plan to irrigate rice fields from Samanala Wewa

by Zulfick Farzan 08-08-2023 | 8:37 AM

COLOMBO (News 1st); Sri Lanka's Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal submitted by the Ministry of Power & Energy to continue an uninterrupted supply of power islandwide without any power cuts while releasing the maximum water levels possible from the Samanalawewa reservoir, on Monday (7).

Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera posted on X, formerly known as twitter, the proposal to release water from Samanalawewa:

1) 8th-10th Aug - release of 3.5 MCM of water per day from Samanalawewa generating maximum possible hydropower.

2) 11-15th August release of 2.5 MCM of water per day, generating maximum hydropower possible.

3) 16th August - Shutdown of Samanalawewa Reservoir for power generation, preserving the dead storage of water of the dam.

He also shared the proposal to continue an uninterrupted power supply islandwide with the closure of Samanalawewa power plant from the 16th of August -

1) To resolve the dispute & connect the Polpitiya-Hambantota transmission line by 20th August.

2) Procure necessary supplementary power from available power plants by 15th August.