19– Construction at a cost of 55 million dollars
The “Jaffna – Kilinochchi Water Supply Project’s Subsurface Sea Water Desalination Plant” implemented under the financial support of the Asian Development Bank through the National Water Supply and Drainage Board was inaugurated today (02).
On the invitation of Minister of Water Supply and Garden Infrastructure Development, Jeevan Thondaman, President Ranil Wickramasinghe was ceremonially opened for public use today (02) Friday.
In particular, as a solution to the drinking water problem faced by the people of Jaffna for a long time, it is worth noting that the project to desalinize sea water under the sea water has been set up with a budget of 266 million US dollars and has been opened for public use.
The Jaffna-Kilinochchi Water Supply and Sanitation Project was launched in 2011 by the Government of Sri Lanka with the assistance of the Asian Development Bank and the French Development Bank to meet the drinking water needs of the people of Jaffna and Kilinochchi districts.
The main objective of this project is to provide safe drinking water to 300,000 people in Jaffna and Kilinochchi districts and to improve the health of 80,000 users in Jaffna city in the northern province of Sri Lanka.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Minister Douglas Devananda and Northern Province Governor Charles who made a comment on the occasion expressed their appreciation and congratulations for completing the project so soon.
This means that Jaffna, a plain region, relies mainly on groundwater for its drinking water supply. However, due to excessive pumping, use of agrochemicals and lack of sanitation facilities, the said ground water is polluted. Compared to the national average water supply coverage of 48%. Safe water supply in Jaffna district is 5%. Considering the above facts, the desalination plant to purify the sea water to meet the drinking water needs of the people of Jaffna is a great relief for the people of Jaffna.
In Thaliyadi Sea Water Desalination Plant project, this plant located in Thaliyadi for low sea salinity uses advanced RO technology to produce 100% safe drinking water from seawater. As Sri Lanka’s largest desalination facility, it combines electronic, chemical and administrative systems to ensure efficient adherence to drinking water standards and produces 24 million liters of potable water daily.
The construction cost of this desalination plant is USD 55 million and the production cost per cubic meter is Rs. is 160. At the same time it is also worth noting that the cost of production in a conventional freshwater treatment plant is Rs 40 per cubic meter.
In this event, Minister of Fisheries K.N. Douglas Devananda, Governor of Northern Province Mrs. B.S.M. Charles, Chief of the Presidential Task Force Sagala Ratnayake, Director General of South Asia Department of Asian Development Bank Takeo Konishi, Members of Northern Province Parliament, Secretary of the Ministry, Chairman of National Water Supply and Drainage Board, General Manager, other officials, special guests and many others attended.
