International experts due next month to examine Victoria dam

By Ifham Nizam

A team of international experts would be here next month to examine the Victoria dam built with a British grant in the 1980s and the government would go all out to maintain the dam according to international standards, said Mahaweli Zones Canals and Settlements Infrastructure Development State Minister, Siripala Gamlath.

The Minister told the media yesterday that all arrangements had been made for the foreign team to visit the country.

Engineers and the technical officers attached to the Sri Lanka Mahaweli Authority had been using modern equipment to monitor the stability of the dam round the clock due to the recent tremors in the vicinity, Gamlath said.

Gamlath said he had inspected all the monitoring machines installed there to obtain information about the functions and the stability of the dam and the seismometers.

Quoting engineers in charge of the dam, the Minister said that the stability of the Victoria Dam was 100% , and no damages had been caused due to the recent earth tremors felt in the region.

The team of experts would also visit Randenigala, Kotmale and Senanayake Samudraya dams, Gamlath said.

The 210 MW Victoria Hydro power Project Dam was declared open by then British Prime Minister Margret Thatcher. It was built by the internationally reputed British builders Balfour Beatty Nuttall. The scheme also irrigates the farmlands in the Mahaweli B and C Zones.

Mahaweli Zones Canals and Settlements Infrastructure Development State Ministry, Secretary Wasantha Palugaswewa said the expert team would evaluate reports next year and thereafter that expert team would issue a 30-year guarantee for the stability of the Victoria Dam as such a certificate was mandatory for all main reservoirs.

Sri Lanka Mahaweli Authority Director General Sunil S Perera said that a discussion was held with the Geological and Civil Engineering Faculty of the University of Peradeniya. It sent a team of experts for a field visit of the Victoria dam complex later and the team had made recommendations for the future cause of action to be taken, he said.

He said a 3D movable robot had been installed to check 74 spots of the dam and issue data daily and, accordingly, the safety of the Dam could be assured 100%.

He also said although there were lime deposits in the surrounding areas of the dam had been built on a stable site. The soil samples collected 40 years ago before the dam was constructed on the site were still available for testing if necessary, he said.

Deputy Director General (Technical Services) P.G. Gunapala, Director Main Dams and Reservoirs Rohana Aruppala, Engineer in Charge of the Victoria Reservoir Wasantha Ehalapitiya were also present at the media briefing.