Construction of Sri Lanka's first wildlife tunnel will begin on 01st March 2024 at Kasikota, Galgamuwa, Gatadivula, As a solution to the ever-growing elephant-train clashunder the supervision of the Ministry of Transport and Highways.
Number of elephants killed due to the train clashes are increasing day by day, and it has become an environmental and development issue which has attracted national and international attention. Various government and non-government organizations have proposed and implemented many solutions but as a country we are still trying to prevent elephant- train clashes.
The Ministry of Transport and Highways, Sri Lanka Railways, "Save the Railways" national campaign and other institutions and organizations studied the matter comprehensively and "Save the Sri Lanka" organization submitted many proposals to the government to prevent elephant-train collisions. Among them, one of the main proposals was to build a tunnel where the highest number of elephants have been killed during last few yearsdue to train collisions and between 150-200 wild elephants are constantly roaming around the railway line. It was proposed to develop an old culvert near the place as a wildlife tunnel, due to some technical problems, was proposed to construct a new wildlife tunnel at “Alimankada”.
Accordingly, as the first step in the national operation to prevent elephant-train conflict, a policy decision was taken to construct the proposed wildlife tunnel under the Maho-Omanthai Railway Development Project which is implemented by the financial assistance of Indian Line of Credit and necessary arrangements were made to implement the decision. The project will protect lives of about 200 wild elephants, is a commendable step taken for wildlife conservation in Sri Lanka. Apart from this, this project contributes to prevent railway accidents, to protect railway property and to ensure the safety of railway passengers.
A large number of senior officials from the Ministry and affiliated institutions including the Minister of Transport and Highways, Dr. Bandula Gunawardane, Secretary Eng. Ranjith Ganganath Rubasinghe will also participate in the inauguration of this national operation.