COLOMBO, July 16 (Xinhua) -- Excavation work on South Asia's longest irrigation tunnel was completed in Sri Lanka on Wednesday.
The 27.7-kilometer tunnel, with China State Construction Engineering Corporation as the general contractor, was excavated using two advanced tunnel-boring machines that began tunneling simultaneously from opposite ends. The two sections met underground on Wednesday in what officials described as a major engineering milestone known as a tunnel breakthrough.
The tunnel forms part of the nearly 240-kilometer North Central Province Canal Project. The project will improve water distribution across the region by supplying 1,505 reservoirs connected to 12 major irrigation systems and 130 cascade networks.
Addressing a ceremony marking the completion of excavation, Aravinda Senarath, Sri Lanka's deputy minister of land and irrigation, hailed the completion of the project a defining moment in Sri Lanka's irrigation and water resources development, and extended appreciation to stakeholders who contributed to this achievement.
The project will benefit about 25,000 families and support cultivation across 74,000 hectares of agricultural land. ■