How "The Great Elephant Gathering of Asia" was lost

By Philip Price

Politics and Elephants.

Construction of Sri Lanka's Moragahakanda Dam led to the unseasonal flooding of the grasses of the downstream reservoirs, principally Minneriya, resulting in the loss of "The Great Elephant Gathering of Asia." To sell this project to the public, the irrigation district publicized that the dam would generate $2.5 billion per year of power. This is even reported in Wikipedia. We corrected Wiki's statement, as a 25-megawatt generator at .06 per kw (wholesale) can only produce $13.14 million (US). of power in a year. This was an error of epic proportions.

This project was founded by former President Sirisena, while he served as Minister of Mahaweli Development (irrigation). They sold the project to the country largely by stating that the hydropower production alone would be worth $2.5 billion per year. This was a lie. The dam will never pay for itself and has caused untold environmental destruction.

This lie continues to this very day, as Wikipedia falsely says "Water from the Moragahakanda Reservoir is used to power the 25-megawatt Moragahakanda Hydroelectric Power Station. The substitution of this hydropower with traditional fossil fuel power generation is estimated to save up to US$ 2.49 billion annually.[12]"

We at SavingGanesh.org have successfully added a footnote to Wikipedia as follows:

" *[This latter claim requires correction, as it is impossible to generate this much power from a 25-megawatt generator in one year. The maximum power possible from a 25-megawatt generator at .06 per kw (wholesale) is $13.14 million (US).]"

Sirisena's clan told the press this lie nearly ten years ago and nobody in journalism, scientists, or engineers corrected this assessment. We did - we did the math and determined the truth. Unfortunately, the truth doesn’t travel the same speed as misinformation (lies).

The Great Gathering of Asia is lost for a pile of lies. This hurts deeply. Up to 400 displaced elephants will likely be exterminated in the coming years due to this. The elephant population, like all wildlife, will expand or contract while matching up to the carrying capacity of their habitat.

The reservoir drowned 7,400 acres of prime farmland and elephant habitat. approximately 1,500 families were forced to relocate into former elephant habitat. The impact was immense, and promoted with lies.

To further rub salt into the wound, the politicians have stolen away over 3,000 acres of critical dry season habitat/forage at Minneriya Reservoir, that supported up to 400 additional elephants.

Yet, this government says that they care about elephants and human/elephant conflict. This is a cruel joke.