Sri Lanka’s largest reservoir and dam at Moragahakanda in Matale, built at a cost of Rs180 billion and consisting two irrigation canals and a hydropower plant, opened its sluice gates for the first time in January 2018. The dam is part of the greater Mahaweli River irrigation system. The reservoir is also fed by another dam built across the Kaluganga river via a 10km underground tunnel. The high-gravity dam feeds water via two separate irrigation systems to arid areas in Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and the Vanni in the North, and Trincomalee in the East.

65m

Height of the Moragahakanda dam

521 million m3

Reservoir capacity

81,442ha

Area of agriculture supported by the dam

25MW

Capacity of the hydropower plant at the facility