Access Engineering excels in irrigation sector

The Jaffna - Kilinochchi water supply and sanitation project – Iranamadu component is making great strides intending to strengthen and augment the Iranamadu reservoir; a part of which could be used for Jaffna drinking water supply without affecting the benefits of the rightful farmers under the Iranamadu irrigation scheme.

The project which is financed by Asian Development Bank (ADB) International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is implemented under several packages. The package I - rehabilitation of Downstream and Upstream Dam Embankments of Iranamadu Reservoir and Package II - Rehabilitation of Spillway,

Supplying and Installation of New Radial Gates and Automation of Spill and Sluice Gates were awarded to Access Engineering PLC by Northern Provincial Council in respect for the corporate’s extensive experience and industry recognized expertise. Irranamadu reservoir which was supposedly constructed in 1921 has been in despair due to the lack of maintenance and destruction caused over the three decades of civil war. It presently serves a command area of 8,455 ha of paddy cultivation with a water volume of 131.3 Million m3 which will be improved to 148.1 million m3. Once rehabilitated, the reservoir will store water at its optimum capacity which otherwise stores 4 to 5 ft below the full supply level. While a part of the incremental volume of the rehabilitated reservoir will be diverted to Jaffna to supply portable drinking water, the rest will be used for the benefit of 7,000 farmer families. The scope of the package I, includes rehabilitation of downstream and upstream embankments within a period of 24 months.

The package II of the project includes improving the spillway of the reservoir with remodeling of stilling basin and installation of 3 new redial gates, improving the 11 Nos of sluices and supplying electric power for their operations.

Once rehabilitated, the command area of the irrigation system will be in full deployment during the main two seasons and sandwich crops will drown during the off seasons, Further to the development work in progress at Irranamadu, Access Engineering recently completed a similar project in Kurunagala District by successfully constructing a 53.63m length two row close conduit and 4 nos of overcrossings in the right bank main canal of Deduru Oya reservoir.