No one will be allowed to carry out any development work in the Muthurajawela sanctuary – State Minister

Nimal Lansa, State Minister for Rural Roads and Other Infrastructure said that no one will be allowed to carry out any development work in the Muthurajawela sanctuary.

State Minister, Nimal Lansa expressed these views while inaugurating the carpeting and development of the Negombo-Wellaveediya road.

Speaking further he said,

“We saw in the media that an unauthorized hotel complex was going to be built in the Muthurajawela reserve, Muthurajawela sanctuary. It should be clearly stated that no one is allowed to carry out any development work in the Muthurajawela sanctuary. Muthurajawela has been identified as one of the sanctuaries in the world. The water from the low lying areas of the Gampaha district flows into this area. This area is connected to the Negombo lagoon in another way. Therefore, no development work is allowed in that area. We saw that the cardinal had also expressed his views in this regard. We agree with the cardinal and say that we do not want to see any development in the area.

“We are now in the process of digging the unauthorized filling. We have informed the Department of Agrarian Development, the Department of Wildlife and other relavent institutes to inform us if there are any unauthorized filling places. All these will be dug up by our machinery and restored to their original condition.”