Sri Lanka has completed excavation of South Asia’s longest irrigation tunnel, a 27.7-kilometre structure under the North Central Province Canal Project.

The tunnel, built with Asian Development Bank funding under the Mahaweli Water Security Investment Programme, will help supply water to 1,505 reservoirs, benefit 25,000 families, and support irrigation across 74,000 hectares.

Once fully completed, the project is expected to release 70 million cubic metres of water annually and improve drinking water access for around 1.5 million people in the Rajarata region.