Electricity for North: A9 road from Omanthai - Mankulam completed

by Hiranya Malwatta | April 10, 2009 at 06:52 am

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Plans are already underway for the development of the North. Meanwhile infrastructure development in the East has been ongoing and building much needed roads and a large number of bridges has been the number one priority.

Omanthai was the last Army post along the A9 road (road from Kandy to Jaffna) before the road was liberated and Mankulam is situated some 40km north of Omanthai. Mankulam was the famous LTTE post along the A9.

The electrification along the Omanthai Mankulam road had been completed at a cost of ten million rupees, a Power and Energy Ministry official said.

According to the official all the three zones of the Menik Farm had been provided with electricity at cost of Rs. Six million. Further the Ceylon Electricity Board has spent over Rs. five million to provide Padaviya hospital with electricity.

Under the Uthuru Vasanthaya program of the President, Power and Energy Minister W.D.J. Senevirathne has given instructions to the CEB to launch a program to provide electricity to all the villages in the Northern Province, the official said.

The CEB has already set up a 36 MW thermal power plant in Chunnakam, providing electricity to over 600,000 persons in Jaffna. The plant will be commissioned by the end of this month the official said.

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Hiranya Malwatta

at 07:03 on April 10th, 2009

Japan extends her hands in the "Reawakening East"

Oct. 25, The longest bridge so far built in Sri Lanka, linking the Northern and Eastern Province across the 'Mahaveli River' at Manampitiya was declared open today.

The foundation stone to construct this bridge was laid when President Mahinda Rajapaksa was serving as the Prime Minister of the country two years ago. The Bridge 302 m. in length, 10.4 meters wide is located at the 81st kilometer of Maradankadawala, Habarana-Thrikkundiyadimadu road in the Pollonnaruwa district.

This has been built at a cost of Rs.1.3 billion. With help from the Japan international co-operation agency, on the request of Agriculture Development and Agrarian Services Minister Maithripala Sirisena, who was earlier the Mahaveli Minister. This is a gift to Sri Lanka by Japanese Government on the request of Minister Mithreepala Sirisena to strengthen the bond between Japan and Sri Lanka.

(Picture by Sudath Silva)

Amy Judd

at 08:49 on April 10th, 2009

Thanks for your story - can you add some information for our readers as to where this story is taking place. I'm assuming it's Sri Lanka, but for those of us that don't know there road names or regions, it's a little hard to tell. If you can add it into your headline too, that would be great.

Thanks

Hiranya Malwatta

at 08:54 on April 10th, 2009

Thanks for the advise Amy. I will add the relevant info.

Tamiya

at 09:24 on April 10th, 2009

Is not the absolute height of hypocrisy while still kiliing Tamils in the war zones due to attacks, starvation and lack of medicines, the Sinhalese Sri Lankan Government celebrate post-war constructions ?!!

This is what the Sri Lankan Government killed jouranlist and Lasantha Wickrematunge on January 8, 2009 has said about post war constructions in his last editorials:

What is more, a military occupation of the country's north and east will require the Tamil people of those regions to live eternally as second-class citizens, deprived of all self respect. Do not imagine that you can placate them by showering "development" and "reconstruction" on them in the post-war era. The wounds of war will scar them forever, and you will also have an even more bitter and hateful Diaspora to contend with. A problem amenable to a political solution will thus become a festering wound that will yield strife for all eternity. If I seem angry and frustrated, it is only because most of my countrymen - and all of the government - cannot see this writing so plainly on the wall.

Hiranya Malwatta

at 10:24 on April 10th, 2009

The diaspora is suffering from a syndrome.

- Dr. Rajasingham Narendran

Tamiya

at 10:20 on April 10th, 2009

This article was from The New York Times:

“My hope,” said the United States ambassador, Robert O. Blake, “is that with the end of fighting the president will really reach out to the Tamil and Muslim communities and give his vision of a united Sri Lanka that will include a measure of dignity and respect and a level of autonomy for them in the geographic areas in which they predominate across the country.”

“The concern is that with military success there is a growing Sinhalese chauvinism and certain hard-line Sinhalese elements in government that say the government does not need to devolve any power to the Tamils,” Mr. Blake said. “Essentially, to the victor go the spoils.”

Batticaloa, a city on Sri Lanka’s eastern shore, was freed from Tamil control two years ago and is an example, in the eyes of the government, of postwar reconstruction.

Infrastructure is being rebuilt and central government control has been restored. But it is a cold peace, with police checkpoints in the town center, armed thugs prowling back streets and continuing reports of abductions and disappearances.

A largely Sinhalese police force patrols a Tamil population, often unable to communicate in a common language.

“The fear is there,” said a woman who owns a guesthouse and insisted that her name not be used. “Even now I am scared to speak.”

In the short term, at least, it appears that the government will keep Sri Lanka on something of a war footing, guarding against possible violence by remnants of the insurgency as well as against opposition by the press and civil society.

The Defense Ministry announced this month that no public gatherings could be held without its approval.