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Muthurajawela Urban Buffer Zone: Physical boundaries to be demarcated

01 Aug 2021

  • Environmentalists continue protest against move to fill land
By Maheesha Mudugamuwa Environmentalists are up in arms once again, as the Government is planning to fill around 100 acres in the Muthurajawela Urban Buffer Zone (UBZ) to build the proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) power plant by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB). Accordingly, the project proponents have completed the public review period – started on 21 May and ended on 8 July – of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) conducted by the Sri Lanka Land Development Corporation (SLLDC) and now awaits final approval from the Central Environmental Authority (CEA), the project-approving agency for the EIA for the development of the land. In such a backdrop, environmentalists allege that the EIA conducted by the SLLDC was not up to the expected standards and therefore has not identified the real impacts the project could pose to the environment. However, the Court of Appeal last week issued an order directing the Surveyor General to expedite the demarcation of physical boundaries of the Muthurajawela Sanctuary in order to clarify the legal status. The two-judge bench comprising Justice Sobhitha Rajakaruna and Justice Dhammika Ganepola gave this order with reference to the writ petitions filed by Archbishop of Colombo His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith and the Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ). The writ petition was filed in the Court of Appeal in January this year by the CEJ, challenging the illegal landfills and dumping of garbage in the Muthurajawela wetlands. The CEJ alleged that several factories operating in and around Muthurajawela and in the vicinity of the wetland dispose of its toxic waste and effluents in the protected zones. Although some factories have been granted environmental protection licenses (EPLs), there is no proper monitoring system in place. The petitioners have stated that the required EIA report under the provisions of the National Environmental Act, as amended prior to disposing of solid waste, has not been conducted and that the sanctuary and adjacent landscape are being illegally filled by several people in contravention to the provisions of Section 33(1) of the Agrarian Development Act and Section 7 of the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance. Accordingly, the petitioners requested the Court of Appeal to issue an interim order preventing the filling of the Muthurajawela Wetland and dumping garbage to clarify the legal status and also to demarcate the boundaries of the sanctuary, the environmental protection area, and the wetland through a joint survey conducted by the respondents and local administrators. They also requested the court to amend the masterplan for the Muthurajawela Marsh and Negombo Lagoon (1991), incorporating the necessary changes to reflect the present needs, and to implement it. The CEA, the Minister of Environment, the Minister of Wildlife and Forest Conservation, the Department of Forest Conservation Director General, the Conservator General of Forests, the Department of Agrarian Services Commissioner General, the Irrigation Department Director General, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), the Divisional Secretariats of Wattala, Negombo, and Ja-Ela, and the Attorney General (AG) are the respondents in this case. Speaking to The Sunday Morning, CEJ Executive Director Hemantha Withanage said the wetland should not be used for any industrial activity and therefore, action should be taken against all those who have already encroached into it. Through demarcation, the illegal establishments could be identified, he said, adding that the action should be taken against everybody alike, as there are small and large-scale illegal establishments inside the wetland as of now. Environmentalist Sajeewa Chamikara of the Movement for Land and Agriculture Reform (MONLAR), speaking to The Sunday Morning, stressed that the analysis of the EIA report titled “Development of Land at Muthurajawela for the CEB”, which was open to the public for 30 working days from 21 May to 8 July, revealed that it was a report prepared in violation of all environmental laws, principles, and policies. “This report does not include adequate alternative studies that should be included as a key component of an EIA report under the National Environmental Act. The alternative study hopes to file facts to justify the most suitable option out of the three suitable options for a given project. It allows you to identify the most appropriate terrain or methodology for a project. But the same key legal element is not included in this report. The reason for this is that this report has been filed to justify the land allotted from the Muthurajawela Wetland for this project three years ago,” Chamikara stressed. Therefore, he alleged that it appears this EIA report has been prepared on preconceived notions. According to Chamikara, 206.678 hectares of the Muthurajawela Environmental Protection Area was declared as such as per the Extraordinary Gazette Notification No. 1466/26, dated 13 October 2006 and published in terms of Sections 24A of the National Environmental Act No. 47 of 1980, as last amended by Act No. 53 of 2000. The Gazette Notification No. 2090/11, dated 25th, declares 162.10 hectares of the Muthurajawela Environmental Protection Area as such, while removing 44.578 hectares (110 acres) of wetland from the Muthurajawela Environmental Protection Area and allocating lands for this project. “This confirms that instead of planning the project based on the EIA report, the EIA report was prepared based on the first allotted land area. Therefore, methods to identify the appropriate project area for the proposed project based on alternative studies have not been implemented. Also, the EIA report has been prepared in violation of the National Environmental Act and the basic principles of the EIA procedure,” Chamikara explained. He also stressed that by implementing such a massive power plant project based on an irregular report can lead to a short-term breakdown. The Muthurajawela Marsh is the largest saline coastal peat bog in Sri Lanka, covering an area of some 3,068 hectares. It runs alongside the Indian Ocean and is located in Gampaha District. Together with the contiguous Negombo Lagoon (3,164 hectares), Muthurajawela forms an integrated coastal wetland system of high biodiversity and ecological significance. It is listed as one of 12 priority wetlands in Sri Lanka, and in 1996, 1,777 hectares of the northern section of Muthurajawela were declared a wetland sanctuary. The sanctuary contains high diversity of both flora and fauna, including several endemic and nationally threatened species, and also provides an important area for migratory birds. For the implementation of the project, as planned by the CEB, a cabinet decision was taken via Cabinet Memo 19/0223/113/006, dated 29 January 2019, to locate the power plants on this land. As per the EIA, the project area consists of a marshy flat terrain in which approximately four acres of land has already been filled. The controversial project site, as described in the report, is bounded by canals to the west, east, and south as well as the Mudiyanselage Ela to the north. The Ambagaha Ela flows across the project area and a part of the Hamilton Canal is also under the study area of the report. As identified in the report, the main impacts of the land filling are those connected with ecology, hydrology, and drainage. Accordingly, the report has stated that two flora species that were identified are nationally threatened and listed as vulnerable while two commercially important fish species were also found, adding that they are also found in other regions in Sri Lanka. Moreover, the report stated that the ecosystem within the proposed project area will be destroyed due to sand filling. However, the report, under the subheading of “Environmental Impacts”, further states that the species have ample space in the Muthurajawela Sanctuary and its buffer zone, while hydrology and drainage impacts could also be overcome by implementing the Drainage Management Plan.


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