“Colombo Port City should never commence”: Prof. Katupotha

Prof. Jinadasa Katupotha

Q: People believe natural disasters are becoming more frequent and worse. How far do you agree with this? 

A: When we consider the constant media reports of natural disasters not only in Sri Lanka but around the world, one can make such statement. But what we need to understand it that it is due to human activities that Mother Nature has changed.

In Sri Lanka we have different types of natural disasters. Floods and landslides are the most common disasters. There are new trends such as tornadoes and sea erosion. Although we have completely forgotten about the tsunami, such a disaster can occur any moment. 

When we take floods, they can occur in couple of ways. Flooding can occur once in every two or three years. The damage caused by these floods is less. Then another type of floods occurs once in every six to seven years with a slightly bigger impact. The most dangerous is the floods that happen in once in 18 to 20 years. This is the kind of floods we experienced in May. If we study reports on previous floods, one can clearly identify that there is a pattern. The longer the interval, the higher the magnitude of the disaster and the damage it causes. Simply put, this is a cyclic pattern.

If we talk about landslides, they can occur regularly and sometimes can escalate, like the landslides we have been experiencing lately. Now the recent landslides happened in the Western side of the Central Hills. But can you imagine a situation where landslides happen in all parts of the Central Hills? It can happen. But are we prepared for that? There have been such incidents in 1993, 1997 and 2003. What I am trying to say is that these natural disasters can be forecasted. If we study and analyse natural disasters that have taken place in the past, we can identify a pattern. This is useful for the rulers of the country to educate the people, be prepared to face such a situation and most importantly take measures to minimise the damage caused by such disasters. But as a country are we doing that? Do you think our politicians have time to engage in such work?

Sri Lanka was colonised for nearly 400 years. The money-hungry British cleared most of our forests. They realised the danger of what they were doing. They prohibited clearing of land 5,000 feet above the sea level. They categorised such land and forests as ‘reserves’. They deployed ‘Forest Conservators’ to take care of those lands. But after independence our own leaders neglected this practice. Lands in these areas were cleared for various reasons and the situation got worse after 1970. During the last 20 years land was cleared to build tourist bungalows, golf courses and mini hydro power stations. All these factors have accelerated frequent occurrence of natural disasters.

If we take European countries, United States, Japan and Singapore, people take good care of their environment. It is unbelievable how dedicated those people are to protect Mother Nature. In our country, people don’t care about the environment. Let me be honest here, I don’t think the so-called ‘environmentalists’ are doing anything too. If we take the politicians, I feel Parliamentarians today take zero attempts to protect our environment. At least the leaders in the past took some effort to protect our environment. 

Q: Are you saying such situations can be controlled if the rulers pay more attention to observations and recommendations of the researchers?

A: Yes, definitely. With my experience I wouldn’t say the flood situation in May this year was one of the worst natural disasters in the country. There have been similar incidents before. I mentioned before that these occur according to a cyclic pattern. On the other hand, the flooding was bad due to excessive reclaiming of low land areas, constructing buildings and high parapet walls. Believe me, if we don’t act now and stop this trend, we will have to face much bigger natural disasters in future. 

Then there was another dialogue that the water that gathered at the river mouth receded very slowly. There is some kind of truth to that. I referred to some reports and I learnt that the tidal co-efficiency during May is around 110 cm. High tides were also around 80 cm. During the new moon and the full moon, there are high tides. During this period tidal co-efficiency is high. As a result the sea level is high. The water that is coming down the rivers cannot get to the sea easily, because the sea level is high. If the tidal levels rise, the water may flow into the country through the rivers. If the sea level rises to three metres, a large number of low lands in Colombo will be flooded. Not only Colombo low lands, but lands throughout the country will be flooded due to such a situation. 

These things needs to be taught to our children, especially at school level and university level. Unfortunately we don’t have the necessary equipment to do that. The Coastal Conservation Department is nearly 45 years old; sadly they haven’t done any significant work during the past 40 odd years. They don’t have the relevant data. Every person in the country should have easy access to this data. Unfortunately in our country these things are only for the researches and scientists. People should be alert about natural disasters. They should have the basic knowledge about these things. 

Our authorities are very proud of the fact that we now own a Doppler weather radar system. They talk as if the country is finally ready to face any natural disaster thanks to the Doppler. The truth is that this machine was brought five years ago, but to date we have failed to get the maximum use out of it. It is said that the machine cost nearly Rs. 50 million, but are we benefiting after spending so much money? To install this machine the area around Gongala was cleared and this caused significant environmental damage. Many fauna and flora indigenous to our country were destroyed. Sometimes geographical formations in this area too may have changed. The damage they caused to the environment cannot be valued. After spending so much money on that system and damaging the environment, they hardly make any use of that machine. This is a very sad situation. 

If we take floods, we are still not prepared to control or to face a situation of higher magnitude. There are various reasons for that. Mainly the political aspect. It is sad to say that during such disastrous time the officials try to get the maximum benefit out of it. More than controlling such situations they want things to get worse because it will be beneficial for them.

Sri Lankan politicians are a very stubborn lot. Our constitution clearly says “Freely-elected representatives of the people of Sri Lanka, in pursuance of such Mandate, humbly acknowledging our obligations to our People and gratefully remembering their heroic and unremitting struggle to regain and preserve their rights and privileges so that the Dignity and Freedom of the Individual may be assured, Just, Social, Economic and Cultural Order attained, the Unity of the Country restored, and Concord established with other Nations.”

But I don’t think a single politician in this country practices this. This is why I always say people in our country are in a sad situation. To whom are they going to tell these things? Who is going to raise a voice for them? Getting to the street is their last option. But then what will happen? The Police will assault them, tear gas them, shoot them and arrest them.

When making decisions, politicians should give priority to the country. Their interest should be in the country and not in their personal benefits. Sadly this is the last thing we can expect from our politicians. We don’t need new rules and regulations. What we need is to put into practice what we already have. 

Q: Some blame previous regimes, saying that massive development projects carried out by them have accelerated and worsened natural disasters. Your comments?

A: My personal view is that living in a country with landslides, floods, sea erosion and tornadoes, we need to delay any ‘massive or mega-scale development’ projects. 

We are a nation that boasts about ‘massive development’ projects. Sirimavo Bandaranaike commenced most of her projects for a 30-year time period. But J.R. Jayawardena started the ‘Kadinam Mahaweli Project’. Today we see the results of these ‘Kadinam’ projects. There are many dangers of dams. As we speak, there are water leaks in several dams. Can you even imagine the damage a single leak can cause? Are we prepared for such a situation? 

Look at the outcome of the Uma Oya project. Thousands of people are suffering today without water. I visited these places; I spoke to the people affected. I saw their suffering. The Government may claim these people will receive compensation, but that relief does not reach the actual people affected. 

A month after President Sirisena was elected, he attended a discussion on the Uma Oya project. I was also present at that function. The President started his speech saying he has only 20 minutes to spend because he has so many other functions to attend. Only two people were given the opportunity to express their grievances. These people have lost their homes, they don’t have water to drink, every single day is a struggle for them. That is not the way to talk to those innocent people. After the program it was decided to appoint a Cabinet interim committee. A report was submitted by this committee. But people in these areas say not a single official visited them or talked to them. Isn’t this pathetic? 

There are many court cases on damages caused to the environment. People in villages attend the court sessions spending their own money and travelling hundreds of kilometres. I say the judge should visit these places before giving a verdict. They should see what damage has been caused to the environment and see the suffering of the people. Then they will realise the gravity of these matters. 

If we take the Colombo Port City, the project was initiated by the previous Government. The foundation stone was laid by the former President. This Government came to power claiming it would stop the project, but now they are trying to go ahead with it. They are unable to go ahead with it due to protests by the people and environmentalists.

Q: You have been raising your voice against the Colombo Port City from the beginning. What are the potential environmental impacts of this project? 

A: Not only now, the Colombo Port City is one project that should never kick off. Not by any future government. Environmental Impact Assessments were carried out in 2011 and 2012 and a supplementary EIA in 2015. Some of the EIAs are completely false; full of wrong and misleading facts. If rocks are mined as mentioned in the Supplementary EIA Report, supplies for local and national requirement will be badly affected. 

According to the report, the proposed sand dredging and extraction site is from Hendala to Basiyawatta. The bathymetry in the sand mining areas as well as the Colombo Port City area is not detailed and the maps presented do not depict the reality of the bottom micro-morphology of the sites. The Ports Authority and some other institutions have already taken nearly 200 million cubes of sand. According to the Supplementary EIA report, Colombo Port City requires nearly 70 million cubes of sand. Due to the extraction of high volumes of sand, wave patterns, current patterns and tidal flow patterns change. More sea erosion will take place from Crow Island to the Negombo lagoon and further north.

There are nearly 8,000 fisher families living along this area. Nearly 35,000 people will be affected by sand mining in these areas. The supplementary report says a large amount of money has been allocated to compensate these people. It means the authorities have identified the damage caused to the people in these areas due to sand mining. 

The supplementary report says rock mining will be conducted Gampaha, Colombo and Kalutara rock outcrops. According to the previous EIA reports, 19 million cubes of rocks are required to complete the project. But the supplementary report says only 2.92 million cubes of rocks are required. In the event of a short supply of rock material, rock miners will go in to the interior rock outcrop areas to get their supplies, which would not only cause earth slips and landslides at an accelerated rate but also sharply reduce ground water levels and obtainable water supplies, and have a destructive impact on fauna and flora.

The Geological Survey and Mines Bureau says the country has outcrops to meet the requirement of any amount of rocks. But the issue is, who thinks about the impact on nature and how it affects the country in the long term? Just to give you an idea of how much rocks are required for this project, let me give you an example. Take the Sigiriya and Pidurangala rocks. Port City requires nearly two-third of the rocks from both Sigiriya and Pidurangala put together. This is only for the people to get an idea. 

The Supplementary EIA report says that the transportation of rocks will be done using existing roads, including carpeted ones. These roads are not meant for 10 wheelers and six wheelers. With more buildings carrying the heavy weight of cement, concrete, rocks, iron and steel to come up in the new Colombo Port City, this heavy weight will unload on the highly-weathered metamorphic Precambrian rocks and as such there is no guarantee that a severe natural disaster will not happen again.

The report had not mentioned the quantities of explosive materials which would be used. With my experience I can assure you we will have to use more explosives than we used during the 30-year war. 

These development projects are not carried out because the people want them; it’s done for the benefit of politicians. Countries like Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan had great political leadership. That is why those countries do extremely well today. Unfortunately Sri Lanka never had a significant political leadership; that is why our country is in the dire situation today. If a good politician or a leader emerges, others will not allow him to last long. Not only leaders and politicians, this is the sad situation among people too.

I don’t think President Maithripala Sirisena has a clear vision. I feel Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is trying to implement some sensible work. But due to the pressure from others he is unable to continue that work effectively. 

The first Minister of Environment was late President Ranasinghe Premadasa. Since then we have had 14 environment ministers. None of them has the ability to say they have done any significant work for the country. Not a single minister had carried out one successful project that benefited the country. This is the pathetic situation of our country. 

Soon after assuming office the Prime Minister assured the Port City project would not be carried out, because we need to conserve the coastal belt from Hikkaduwa to Kalpitiya. What happened to that pledge? Politicians must understand that due to their stubborn and ever-changing decisions, it is the country and people that suffer.