Ceylon Electricity Board has awarded Maeda Corporation of Japan the contract lot no 2 for the main civil works on Sri Lanka's Upper Kotmale hydro power project.
Contract lot no 2 is the largest out of five lots and amounts to more than 50% of the total project cost. The scope of this contract includes construction of a 35m high 180m long concrete dam, a 13.5km long tunnel equipped with surge facilities, and intake and outlet structures. Work will also include building a 4.5m diameter 791m deep inclined shaft, underground cavern complex to house generating facilities and other associated structures.
Work is scheduled to begin next year with completion expected by late 2011.
Contract lot no 1 for preliminary works commenced late last year and is still in progress. It includes the construction of access roads to main construction sites, project office buildings, residential facilities for construction staff, housing and other public facilities for 490 resettled families, as well as provision of power supply to the project sites.
On completion, Upper Kotmale will add 150MW of installed capacity and 409GWh annual energy to Sri Lanka’s national grid.