Swift measures to control flooding: President

President Maithripala Sirisena says a speedy process is needed to control the flooding around the city of Colombo and the surroundings of the Kelani River.

He made these remarks during a meeting held at the Presidential Secretariat last week regarding a project proposal on mitigating flooding in the areas of the left bank of the Kelani river and the city of Colombo. 

This project proposal was submitted by a former Senior Advisor at the Ministry of Disaster Management K. D. A. M. Nanayakkara and during this meeting, attention was drawn to the implementation of this project. 

The project report was compiled following a study conducted regarding the flooding situation affecting the areas of Colombo and adjacent areas in the years of 2008, 2009 and 2016.

President Sirisena has given instructions to appoint a committee comprising of all the representatives of the relevant institutions and further instructed presenting the project report to the Cabinet for approval. 

Minister Duminda Dissanayake, Mayor of Kaduwela Buddhika Jayavilal, Mayor of Kotte Madura Vitanage, Secretaries to the Ministries and others participated in this meeting.