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Trip Reports Archive » By Month » January » Story of Victoria

Story of Victoria

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Adikarigama, Victoria - Randenigala - Ratambe Reserve, Victoria Dam, January, Dry Zone, National Park, 2014, Photograhy

Author: Dilhan Jayakody (15 Trips)

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Year and Month  25, 26 January 2014
Number of Days  1st day morning of a 2 day trip
Crew  30
Accommodation  N/A
Transport  Bus
Activities  Visit the heart of great Mahaweli project, Gather Knowledge
Weather  Sunny
Route  Horana -> Hanwella -> Pasyala -> Kandy -> Digana -> Theldeniya -> Victoria -> Randenigala ->  Mahiyanganaya
Tips, Notes and Special remark
  • Victoria Dam is controlled by Mahaweli Authority & Hydropower generation complex is by CEB.
  • To visit Victoria Dam you don’t need permission, but to cross the dam you need to get permission from Mahaweli Authority.
  • Special Thanks to Mahaweli Authority & CEB for giving permission to cross the dam & visit power generation complex

***Special Thanks to Mr. Gunasena Hettige who conducted a very detail, valuable presentation about Victoria Project.

Author Dilhan Jayakody
Comments Discuss this trip report, provide feedback or make suggestions at Lakdasun Forum on the thread

  • Story of Victoria

First of all after a long time(nearly 2 years) found a time to write a report.

Then this is not just an ordinary trip report which I used to write with details of places visited and other related information. It has more educational value, especially for school children. Victoria was one of the mega structures in those days. But most of us not much aware about the interesting story behind this mega project. Therefore I thought of sharing this with you all. Below video gives more insight about great Victoria Hydropower project.

I can remember in late 80’s and early 90’s this was the biggest project ever happened in Sri Lanka and a lot of people went to witness this. In those days this is one of the must see destination for school educational trips. Same as others I also went there several times in late80’s and early 90’s.  Not only because of educational value. But also to see the hundreds of giant earth moving machines at a single place, like bulldozers, Cranes, giant trucks, etc.  I loved those machines.  But after those days I couldn’t visit until 2014 even though I passed by Theldeniya several times. One fine day in 2014 I went to visit Victoria while I was going to Mahiyangnaya. It was nearly after 20 years of my last visit of Victoria. While I was at the Victoria visitor center there were some other groups as well and 1 person was nicely explaining the story of Victoria project.  Because of his descriptive explanation we also went there and listen that. Initially we thought he was belongs to that particular group. But later we got to know he is one of the few technical officers serve for Mahaveli  project since from the beginning.  He is Mr. Gunasena  Hettige. He was kind enough to spend another 30 minutes for our group. Hence don’t need to write further. Let’s listen to Mr. Hettige…

View from visitor center

View from visitor center

Zoomed

Zoomed

Meeting of Mahaweli(Right) & Hulu(Left) rivers

Meeting of Mahaweli(Right) & Hulu(Left) rivers

Mahaweli River

Mahaweli River

On the Dam

On the Dam

Foundation stone - click to enlarge

Foundation stone – click to enlarge

Visitor Center

Visitor Center

View from the dam

View from the dam

Late Minister Gamini Dissanayake

Late Minister Gamini Dissanayake

Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher

After that we went to Adikarigama to visit the biggest hydro power generation complex in SL by crossing the Mahaweli river through the giant Victoria Dam. It contributes 210MW to the national grid. There are 3 turbines which has capacity of 70MW each.

Power station at Adikarigama

Power station at Adikarigama

Divided in to 3

Divided in to 3

To 3 turbines

To 3 turbines

Outlet, Mahaweli re-born and flows to Randenigala

Outlet, Mahaweli re-born and flows to Randenigala

Then we went Mahiyanganaya via Randenigala on ‘Raja Mawatha’

Randenigala Dam & Power Station(The biggest reservoir of Mahaweli Project)

Randenigala Dam & Power Station(The biggest reservoir of Mahaweli Project)

Power Station Zoomed

Power Station Zoomed

Full of Water

Full of Water

The Dam & Knuckles range in background

The Dam & Knuckles range in background

The View…

The View…

The gates

The gates

View towards Rantambe & Mahiyanganaya

View towards Rantambe & Mahiyanganaya

Thanks Mr. Gunasena Hettige

Thanks Mr. Gunasena Hettige

 

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