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Gal oya National Park in Sri Lanka was established in 1954 and serves as the main catchment area for "Senanayake Samudraya", the largest reservoir in Sri Lanka. "Senanayake Samudraya" was built under the Gal oya development project by damming the Gal oya at "Inginiyagala" in 1950. Gal oya reservoir currently defined as "Senanayake Samudraya" is the largest and very special among other reservoirs in Sri Lanka in various manners. Gal oya Scheme is one of the largest 4 modern irrigation projects of Sri Lanka. This scheme involved the restoration of a number of ancient medium scale reservoirs & construction of the "Senanayake Samudraya" (7680 ha), the largest reservoir in the history of Sri Lanka. "Senanayake Samudraya" is one of the main project of the Scheme. Senanayake reservoir which consist a catchment area of 384 square miles has been constructed by the earthen dam of which is 3600 feet in length and 140 feet in height comprising 2 million cubic yards of soils. This can store 770000 acre feet capacity of water. A concrete spill of which is 1020 feet in length has been constructed far away from the main dam to inspections. It is 770 feet in spill length and 60 feet in height comprising 6 doors and distributes water by the sluice with 13 feet in diameter. From 1954 to 1965 the park was administrated by the Gal oya Development Board until the Department of Wildlife Conservation took over administration. The National Park is situated 314 km from Colombo The Gal oya Development Board established several protected areas to protect the catchment areas of "Senanayake Samudraya" and several other reservoirs.
The Port of Colombo (known as Port of "Kolomthota" in the early 14th Century Kotte Kingdom) is the largest and busiest port in Sri Lanka as well as in South Asia. The proposed Colombo South Harbor is situated west to the existing port of Colombo comprising an area of approximately 600 hectares. The proposed harbor has 3 terminals each having 1200 m length and facilities to accommodate 3 berths alongside. The proposed small boat harbor at the end of secondary breakwater has 400 m length of quay wall. New buildings for pilot station and crew accommodation are to be constructed at the head of secondary breakwater. The proposed new harbor basin has,
Turning circle - 800 m
Basin depth - 18 m
Depth of access channel - 20 m
Width of the Harbor mouth - 570 m
Two phases of the project:
1. Harbor Infrastructure works.
Construction of Breakwaters, dredging for new harbor basin and navigation channel and rerouting of crude oil pipe line.
2. Construction of Terminals and other related services.
This reservoir was built by the King Dhatusena who ruled the country during 455-473 CE in the 5th century. King Dhatusena wanted to develop the irrigation system by constructing several tanks, canals, etc in around the kingdom of Anuradhapura. After completion of construction of Kala Wewa, the king built another tank called Balalu Wewa nearby and connected the two, making the biggest tank in Sri Lanka. His son King Mahinda II who ruled the country during 777-797 CE expanded the tank further. Water of the tank was transferred to the 'Thisa Wewa' in Anuradhapura by 54 miles (86.9 km) long canal called Jaya 'Ganga' alias 'Yoda Ela' which has a fine slope of one feet per mile. Kala Wewa is one of the magnificent reservoirs of the ancient world. This reservoir has a circumference of 40 miles and has a total area of seven square miles at full capacity. The ancient spill "Pitawana" is measured to be 216 feet in width and 170 ft in length. The embankment of Kala wewa is 60 to 80 feet high with a base of more than 200 ft and a length of 3 miles.
