Parakrama Samudraya in peril?

‘Let not even a drop of rain water in this country flow to the sea without being put to use’ – King Parakramabahu

By Prof Dayantha Wijeyesekera

Sri Lanka, a country proud of its ancient civilisation, mainly due to its hydraulic irrigation system seems to be under threat due to irrational decisions and unprioritised modern technological applications!

At a critical period in the history of Sri Lanka when health workers and other devoted rational decision-makers are fighting to save human lives despite the prevailing economic crisis, extravagant spending on major ‘not-so-urgent’ projects could be considered ridiculous. There are many such occurrences in education, recreation and many other fields, which should be reconsidered for the massive funds required, without incurring further foreign debt.

For example, in education, innovative progress was made in the recent past, in non-conventional quality university education, that did not fall directly under the purview of the University Grants Commission, which is now being reverted to conventional systems. For example, between 2005 and 2007, with ADB funding, a very effective ‘Distance Education Modernisation Programme’ was put in place island-wide with inputs mainly from local academia and experts, which if sustained could have overcome many of the difficulties experienced in general and tertiary education during the unforeseen pandemic, rather than with the input of more infrastructure and equipment to produce the same results in a conventional manner.

In another example, through local architectural and engineering talent, many of them being my own colleagues, it was possible to erect the 17-storey, 350 m (1150 ft), tallest communications tower in South Asia at significant cost, but with hardly any benefit other than prestige, whereas a fraction of such investments allocated for the improvement of the technological modernization of the health sector could have saved many lives and much anxiety.

While entertainment for health benefits would undoubtedly be profitable, improvements to existing facilities, rather than launching major projects, would be equally beneficial.

It was evident that in some foreign-funded hydropower schemes of the recent past, the concrete construction of the road networks was given priority over ‘power generation’, whereas in neighbouring locally funded power projects the priorities were the reverse, resulting in the same output.

Inland water bodies of Sri Lanka are usually categorised as rivers (Ganga) and lakes, lagoons, canals, dams and reservoirs, collectively referred to as ‘Wew’, with perhaps the largest being the Parakrama Samudraya due to its size and wind-driven waves similar to those of the ocean.

The only inland ‘Samudraya’ (ocean) in Sri Lanka, Parakrama Samudraya in Polonnaruwa, named after the visionary King of ancient Ceylon, King Parakramabahu, built around 386 AD, is the most extensive man-made lake with a large surface area of water (22.6 km2 or 8.7 sq miles), consisting of five separate Wew connected by narrow channels. The scenic holiday destination, the rest house bordering the Samudra had the honour of hosting Britain’s Queen Elizabeth and late Prince Philip during their last visit to Sri Lanka in the 1960s.

Small lakes with hardly any wave actions on banks are customarily bordered by jogging tracks or walkways, with the larger inland areas taking up driveways for vehicles and cycles tracks.

It would be evident to anyone passing coastal areas, that the commonest form of coast protection is the use of well-fitting boulders, while in some advanced countries ‘sea walls’ are constructed to protect the coast. These boulders, when settled and consolidated, are very effective for the purpose.

With such an effective system already available, instead of further strengthening the protective structures, it is very irrational to disturb the embankments, let alone incur further massive rehabilitation costs that such projects usually entail.

With much grief I predict that if the embankments are disturbed as envisaged, rather than just strengthening certain areas that urgently require doing so, before the end of the current decade a major cost would have to be incurred to rehabilitate the bordering motorable roadway which at the moment require only minor improvements.

(The writer is a Senior Professor of Civil Engineering)