Harsha incurs wrath of ministers for taking up issue of road building in Sinharaja

By Saman Indrajith

Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera told parliament on Tuesday (19) that no harm had been inflicted on the environment when a road was renovated in the village known as Lankagama close to the Sinharaja Forest which was a sensitive eco-system and world heritage.

Responding to a question raised by SJB Colombo District MP Dr. Harsha de Silva, the Minister said that an environmental impact assessment should be conducted when a road is constructed, “But we have not constructed a new road. It is only a renovation of an existing road. Therefore, the need for a new report does not arise. Not a single tree has been cut down for this renovation of a 1.8 km long road. It was a tar road and we had it concreted over.”

Dr de Silva said that there were news reports of trees being felled in the forest for the road construction project.

Chief Government Whip and Highways Minister Johnston Fernando: You are misleading the House with baseless statements. You have not seen Lankagama.  You are in Colombo and telling lies without seeing what actually is there in Lankagama. I asked you to come and visit and promised to take you down there. You did not come and now you are telling lies in this House. We have already renovated the road and now we are renovating the drains on either side of it.

Minister Amaraweera said that the media reports were false. “I visited the area and met the people there. There are some 120 families in Lankagama. They did not have proper a road.”

Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said that the road to Lankagama had been originally built 22 years before.