By 2025, Beira Lake will be transformed from a polluted waterbody today into a scenic asset of Colombo City.
This was the vision of President Ranil Wickremasighe when he was holding the premiership of this country and the leader ship given to the development plan by the Sri Lankan Minister of Megapolis and Western Development Colombo Patalee Champika Ranawake in 2017.
But with the change of government this Beira Lake Intervention Area Development Plan devised with the assistance of the the Temasek Foundation International has gone with the winds and the Beira Lake area has become polluted.
The development of the area as the city’s Central Business District is still confined to a several files with important documents of the project, official source said.
In this backward situation of political bungling of the previous regime, a Japanese company has agreed to the government to clean and beautify the Colombo Beira Lake for free.
The company has put forward their agreement after a discussion between the President’s Senior Advisor on Climate Change Ruwan Wijewardena and the company’s representatives held at the President’s Secretariat last week.
The work is to be completed within 06 months from the date of commencement of the project and the total cost of the project is 3 million dollars. It is to be received as a grant from the company to the country.
This project will be started according to a request made by Gangarama Viharadhikari, Ven. Dr. Kirinde Assaji Thera, to President Ranil Wickramasinghe to clean the Beira Lake as it has become polluted and smelly. The project will start after the related agreements are signed by the first week of February.
The Beira Lake Intervention Area Development Plan was unveiled on 27 November 2017 and “it represented a vital element of the master plan to develop the Central Business District of Colombo, official sources said.
Much efforts have already made on ground during that period . Almost 400 families living in the under-served area have been resettled.
Additional investment was expected to go into the protection of the lake bank and the dredging of East Lake. There was a plan to make more land available for development in 2018.
By 2025, Beira Lake will be transformed from a polluted waterbody today into a scenic asset of Colombo City. This is the vision that the Sri Lankan Ministry
