Mahaweli Water Security advertising contract goes to unsolicited bidder
Faced with diminishing levels of water storage in Sri Lanka in the foreseeable future, a massive advertising campaign is to be implemented under the Mahaweli Water Security Investment Programme (MWSIP), officials of the Mahaweli Development Ministry said.
The government would be spending millions of dollars on this with the aim of increasing water conservation Mahaweli water.
Agricultural production promotion, improve the accessibility of safe drinking water for the people, and encourage economic growth in the northern dry zone of Sri Lanka were among the major objectives of MWSIP, a senior state official said.
The total investment cost of the programme is in the region of US$675 million, of which $453 million will be provided by the ADB under the Multi - tranche Financing Facility (MFF).
The Government of Sri Lanka has already signed two loan agreements with the ADB to borrow $150 million for the first phase of the programme.
A Rs. 200 million advertising campaign contract has been awarded to a leading public relations company without following proper tender pro- cedure to propagate the urgent need of Mahaweli water security and conservation, a civil society organisation leader alleged.
The new Cabinet has approved a proposal submitted by President Maithripala Sirisena to launch this massive advertising campaign, he pointed out adding that a prospective bidder has been selected in an unsolicited bid violating tender procedure.
Construction of the new and improved water conveyance and storage infrastructure under this programme, will increase the productivity of agricultural lands in the North Western, North Central and Central Provinces.
Construction of 158 km canals including 38 km of tunnels are being carried out, a senior official serving at the Mahaweli Ministry said.
In addition, two new reservoirs with a storage capacity of 36 MCM (Million Cubic Metres) are to be constructed under the programme.
Rehabilitation of the 74 km Minipe Left Bank Canal is also included in the project under this massive investment.
This programme will directly benefit 25,000 farmer families under the Upper Elahera Canal Project, 40,000 farmer families under the North Western Province Canal Project and 15,000 farmer families under the Minipe Left Bank Canal Rehabilitation Project .
The MWSIP will invest mainly in water infrastructure and institutional capacity to improve water use efficiency and productivity for irrigated agriculture as well as providing bulk drinking water supplies from the water- rich wet zone to the waterscarce dry zone.
The infrastructure includes conveyance canals and tunnels for transfer of water from the Mahaweli River Basin to cascade tank systems and storage reservoirs in North Central, Northern and North Western Provinces for increasing cropping intensities on existing farm lands and ensuring the supply of safe drinking water.
The MWSIP will invest mainly in water infrastructure and institutional capacity to improve water use efficiency and productivity for irrigated agriculture as well as providing bulk drinking water supplies from the water-rich wet zone to the water-scarce dry zone.