The government’s intention is to conserve the Muthurajawela wetland as a protected zone and hand it over to the Wildlife Department, Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said.
Addressing the media after a discussion at the Ministry yesterday on the current controversy over the Muthurajawela wetland, he said it is one of the most important ecological zones in our country in terms of the environment.
"The Government will never let this wetland to perish. The government’s intention is to let the conservation activities be done by the Urban Development Authority (UDA) and later hand over the wetland to the Wildlife Department. In previous times, certain people had forcibly seized land areas belonging to the wetland and nearly 600 acres of such lands had been taken back to the government and managed to stop a number of projects that were planned to be implemented, "the Minister said.
The decision to handover the wetland for conservation activities were taken by the President and making the necessary funds and other technical facilities available at the UDA.
The Minister also said that the proposed LNG plant was planned to be built not in the land area of the Muthurajawela wetland zone, the Minister added. (Daily Mirror)