The Hon. Manjula Suraweera Arachchi
Manjula Suraweera Arachchi asked how the Government would address the impact of the Broadlands hydropower project on water rafting along the Kelani River, a key tourism activity. He said river closures from late afternoon to the following morning delay rafting operations and inconvenience foreign visitors, and requested a solution that balances hydropower generation with tourism needs.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Minister, my second supplementary question is this.
¶ 02 This power plant is based on the Kelani River. For a long time, water rafting has been carried out on the Kelani, attracting local and foreign tourists, and this location is one of Asia’s most prominent rafting stretches of about 10 km. With the Broadlands project, the Kelani River is closed from about 4.30 p.m. until 8.30 a.m. the next day. Foreign visitors coming to raft must wait till around 10.00 a.m., because even after opening the gates at about 8.00 a.m., it takes more than two hours for water levels to rise. At a time when we seek to promote tourism to overcome our economic difficulties, this causes serious issues. As Minister, when will you provide a satisfactory solution to balance hydropower operations with the rafting activities?
Provenance
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- Hansard, Tuesday, 11 November 2025 ·No. 22786 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Manjula Suraweera Arachchi. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 11 November 2025. No. 22786. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/11873