Anyone passing Battaramulla cannot miss the beautifully landscaped Waters Edge or the Diyatha Uyana complex.

This complex has added a new dimension as a part of the estimated US dollar 220 million World Bank funded project aimed at controlling the flooding of Colombo, removing the clogging to the flow of rainwater and setting up of places for entertainment.

While commenting on this project, senior urban planning specialist at the World Bank’s Colombo branch Rozana Nitti says that the urban zone of Colombo provides around 60 percent of Sri Lanka’s gross domestic product.

Hence, the World Bank points out that the comparable benefits within the Colombo urban zone should be exploited to speed up the country’s economic development.

Under this project aimed at such a foundation about 45 locations within the Colombo urban zone which get flooded easily even during the slightest of rains are to be developed, said additional secretary to the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development Rohan Seneviratne.

Similarly, the other plans under this project are the development of the waterways in the Colombo area, constructing several lakes, creating walkways around these lakes, setting up places for hydro entertainment, providing modern toilet facilities and construction of overhead pedestrian crossings.

While there are plans under this World Bank funded project to provide training and equipment to the Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia and Kolonnawa local government institutions to keep the city clean, the Kotte and Beddegana wetlands too would be preserved.

The modernizing of the Colombo Town Hall, widening and beautification of roads are also part of this project.

While commenting on these, Seneviratne said that this is one among the speedy projects of the World Bank.

World Bank senior urban planning specialist Nitti further added that the rainfall data for the last 25 years had been analyzed for this project.