Pars Today

Pars Today - The multipurpose dam and power plant project, “Uma Oya,” in Sri Lanka, entirely undertaken by Iranian companies, is set to be operationalized in the coming days with the presence of officials from both countries.

It is one of the largest Iranian technical-engineering services export projects in the fields of dam construction, water transfer, and electricity generation. 

With the implementation of the "Uma Oya" project, which has been constructed 230 km east of Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, the excess water from the "Uma Oya" and "Mahatotilla Oya" rivers located in the Uva Province of the country will be transferred to the arid areas of the same province for agricultural development.

Alongside achieving this goal, energy will be produced through the project's underground power plant with a capacity of 120 megawatts. 

The production of 290 gigawatt-hours of energy per year, supplying water for 5000 hectares of agricultural land in the dry southeastern region of Sri Lanka, and transferring 145 million cubic meters of water from the rainy region to dry areas are among the objectives of this project. This project has been implemented and operationalized by the Iranian company "Farab" with the efforts of Iranian experts and engineers in Sri Lanka.

From the perspective of execution, this project is considered one of the unique engineering projects. It includes the construction of a 24-kilometer tunnel using two TBM machines without intermediate access, in very challenging geological conditions and with the presence of high-pressure water flows. It also involves drilling one of the tallest vertical shafts in the world for hydroelectric power plants, measuring 618 meters in length, installing approximately 1000 tons of suspended metal shaft covering, and constructing the power plant in cavities and spaces at a depth of 750 meters underground.

The Iranian contractor of this project received the prestigious Social Responsibility Award in 2022 due to its responsible approach toward local communities. Additionally, according to the International Tunneling and Underground Space Association (ITA), the multi-purpose "Uma Oya" project was among the four final selected projects in the 50 to 500 million euro category in 2020.

As a leading country in the water and electricity industry, Iran holds the first position in exporting technical and engineering services in this industry in the West Asia region.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is also among the top five turbine manufacturers in the world and has localized more than 91% of the required components for its power plant industry.

Iran's technical and engineering capabilities in water resource management tools, including irrigation and drainage networks, tunnels, and dam construction, are 100% self-sufficient, and Iran ranks among the top four countries in the world in this field.

Prior to the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, there was no capacity for implementing technical-engineering water projects in the country, and Iran was dependent on foreign companies in the water industry.

MG/ME