ByKELUMSHIVANTHA
in Attanagalla, Sri Lanka
Deep in the hilly woods of Sri Lan-
ka, a water plant being constructed
by Chinese and local workers is
offering 600,000 nearby residents
the hope of a better life with clean
drinking water.
The water treatment project is
being carried out by China Machin-
ery Engineering Corp about 40 kilo-
meters north of the capital, Colombo,
in the western part of the country.
The project, known as the Gam-
paha Attanagalla and Minuwangoda
Integrated Water Supply Scheme, is
one of the biggest China-Sri Lanka
cooperation projects and is specifi-
cally aimed at improving local peo-
ple’s livelihoods.
It will benefit more than 600,
people after completion, said Yang
Wei, the executive manager at the
site. The plant is scheduled to be
completed by early next year.
Yang said the project has entered a
crucial period, and the Chinese and
Sri Lankan staff members are work-
ing together to guarantee that the
project will be finished on time, thus
helping to solve the local people’s
urgent need for clean drinking water.
About 200 people are now work-
ing with steel and concrete at the
site, and the purification tank has
been completed. At its peak, the proj-
ect employed 300 workers, including
about 200 local people.
Over two-thirds of the island
nation receives annual rainfall of
more than 1,500 millimeters, and
most areas are usually green. Howev-
er, purification is essential before the
public can use the plentiful water.
According to the World Health
Organization, acidity and heavy
metal residue in drinking water is
a major cause of chronic kidney dis-
ease of unidentified etiology, one of
the most serious noncommunicable
diseases affecting thousands of peo-
ple in Sri Lanka and a major burden
on the country’s health system.
Kamal Gammanpila, a researcher
at Imperial College University in
London, said the high use of chemi-
cal fertilizers contributes to the
chronic kidney disease.
Statistics from the National Water
Supply and Drainage Board show
that 35 percent of households inthe nation of more than 20 million
people are in dire need of clean, pipe-
borne fresh water.
The Attanagalla water project,
launched in 2014, gets its water from
a branch of the Attanagalu Oya River.
Its main objective is to provide clean
water in the Attanagalla, Mirigama,
Minuwangoda and Mahara areas of
Gampaha district in the country’s
Western province.
The project is 85 percent funded
by the China Development Bank.
The Bank of Ceylon will provide the
government with the remaining 15
percent. The total estimated cost of
the project is $34 million.
Yang said the water treatment
plant will have a daily processing
capacity of 54,000 tons and a daily
water supply of 85,000 tons. The
project also includes infrastructure
for a pipe network of 720 km.The builders have “to cut paths
through mountains and build bridg-
es across rivers”, Yang was quoted as
saying on China Machinery Engi-
neering Corp’s website.
“If there is no road, we build one.
If there are low-lying areas, we fill
them up. If the hillside goes beyond
the elevation, we move it away. If
the construction space is small, we
increase the comprehensive utiliza-
tion,” Yang said.
So far, 70 percent of the construc-
tion has been completed. Upon com-
pletion, the project will provide the
water supply for 197 sq km, he said.
CMEC, one of the earliest Chinese
companies operating in Sri Lanka,
said it pays close attention to local
public welfare while undertaking
construction projects. And when-
ever there is a natural disaster in
Sri Lanka, CMEC is the first foreigncompany to donate relief supplies to
the affected people, it said.
At the end of last year, CMEC
donated purification equipment to
Mihintale Temple and the people
of surrounding areas in north-cen-
tral Sri Lanka to help provide clean
drinking water. “This measure was
highly appreciated,” Yang said.
He also said Sri Lanka should
build more purifiers and a proper
sewage system to ensure clean
water.
Noting that many Sri Lankans
use shallow wells to draw drinking
water, Yang said the country has
many suitable locations where water
purification facilities could be built
instead.Theauthor,afreelancejournalist
forChinaDaily,iseditor-in-chiefof
srilankamirror.comChinese, local workers building plant
to benefit more than 600,000 people
Cleanwater
onwayfor
SriLankans
ByEDITHMUTETHYA
in Nairobi, Kenya
[email protected]
International agencies have heed-
ed a World Health Organization
emergency call to pledge funds to
contain the Ebola epidemic in the
Democratic Republic of Congo.
WHO on July 17 called the outbreak
a “public health emergency of inter-
national concern”, a rare designation
only used for the gravest epidemics.
The year-old epidemic in eastern
DR Congo, the second deadliest
on record, has expanded from the
largely contained remote areas to
urban areas, Agence France-Presse
reported. More than 1,700 people
have died.
The Ebola virus is highly conta-
gious and has an average fatality rate
of around 50 percent. It was trans-
mitted to humans from wild animals
and spreads among people through
close contact with blood, body fluids,
secretions or organs of an infected
person.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus,
the WHO director-general, said:
“In the last couple of weeks there
is renewed commitment to finance
the shortages we were facing. The
support has raised hopes that the
epidemic could be restrained.”
Tedros’ comments came after
the World Bank announced $
million financial support raised in
a global response to the epidemic.
This was the second round after$100 million disbursed by the bank
since August 2018.
Kristalina Georgieva, the chief
executive officer of the World Bank,
said the communities and health
workers on the front line of the out-
break urgently need more support
and resources from the internation-
al community to prevent the crisis
from worsening.
Italy pledged 300,000 euros
($334,400) to support medical treat-
ment, immunization and burials in
“sanitized” conditions, carried out
by WHO in the North Kivu and Ituri
regions of DR Congo.
Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and International Cooperation said
in a statement that the contribution
assured continuity to the responseof the country’s cooperation service
since the Ebola outbreak last year.
The United States, through the US
Agency for International Develop-
ment, pledged more than $38 mil-
lion in additional assistance to help
end the outbreak, including $15 mil-
lion in new funding to WHO.
This brought the total USAID
funding for the Ebola response to
more than $136 million since the
beginning of the outbreak in August
2018.
The European Union has also
contributed 30 million euros in
humanitarian funding for the Ebo-
la response. This brought total EU
financing toward the epidemic to 47
million euros since 2018.
The World Food Programmeannounced on July 26 that it
requires $50 million over the
next six months to implement its
response and preparedness actions
in DR Congo and neighboring coun-
tries: Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi
and South Sudan.
The agency plans to nearly double
its food assistance and nutritional
support to the 440,000 Ebola-affect-
ed people in DR Congo over the
next six months, in what it termed
as stepping up preparations for a
potential further escalation of the
epidemic.
The African Union has also
announced plans to convene a fun-
draising forum in the first week
of September to support the fight
against Ebola in DR Congo.New pledges of international support after WHO’s emergency call on DR Congo epidemic
FundsraisehopesofcontainingEbola
The Gampaha Attanagalla and Minuwangoda clean water project is expected to be completed by early
next year. It is being carried out by China Machinery Engineering Corp about 40 km north of Colombo.
KELUM SHIVANTHA / FOR CHINA DAILYCHINA DAILY GLOBAL WEEKLY August 2-8, 2019 WORLDNEWS 11