The proposed Deduru Oya Reservoir is located in Kurunegala District. It will serve the lands in dry and intermediate zones of Kurunegala and Puttalam Districts, where the people are frequently suffering from water scarcity. Benefits from the Project will uplift the living condition of these people. The
Reservoir will hold 75 million cubic meters of water after its completion and it will provide assured irrigation facilities for 11,000 ha (27,500 acres) of paddy lands in the Deduru Oya and the Mee Oya basins benefitting about 15,000 farmer families while about 50,000 families will benefit by domestic water facilities, lift irrigation, and extension of inland fisheries culture etc. The project envisages construction of following reservoir components.
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 Construction of new 2400m long earthen dam
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Constructions of 2 sluice structures.
 Construction of concrete spill structure and hydro power station of 1.5 MW.
Construction of about 45 km long Left Bank Main Canal, 33 km long Right Bank Trans
Basin Canal and 27 km long branch canals.
Improvements to minor tanks, which will fed by RB & LB Canals.
Providing infrastructure facilities for drinking water, electricity, roads etc. in the resettlement areas.
In addition to above construction works, action has been taken to acquire necessary lands for the project and to resettle affected people simultaneously, which costs around Rs. 1800 million. The total project cost is Rs.6200 million. Initial construction period of the project was from 2006 to
2010.
Project Implementation Strategy
The Irrigation Department (ID) carries out the construction work of the project mainly on force account using departmental machinery as well as hired machinery. Some of the small scale works and supplies are awarded to local contractors. Also, the ID awards some of the specific construction work to specialized contractors / agencies after negotiation.
Present Position of the Project
Physical progress and the financial progress of the project up to the end of June 2010 is about
35% and Rs.1600 million respectively, which is behind the original work program.
The delay in completion of the Project was due to the following unavoidable reasons:
1.
Almost all the construction work of the project had to be carried out on private lands.
Hence the resistance of the landowners, and the land acquisition process resulted delay in payment of compensation to the affected people which caused the initial delay.
2.
Change of the design of the RB trans basin canal to suit the site conditions which involves concrete lining of the entire canal,
3.
Insufficient cash flow.

4.
Intermittent cessation of machinery work on the site and transport of earth by trucks from burrow to the main bund site due to slippery conditions caused by unusual rains prevailed in the area and the soil condition at the site.
5.
Difficulty of obtaining needed huge quantity of suitable construction materials such as earth, clay, metal, sand and gravel from the vicinity that had to be transported from distant places than anticipated.
Milestones set for the balance work of the Project
Stage I - To provide Irrigation Water to end of Left Bank area after completion of Reservoir and L.B. Main canal by March 2012.
Stage II - To provide Irrigation Water to the Right Bank area after completion of R.B. Main canal by end of March 2013.