11 September 2023 09:39 am Views - 132
By Yohan Perera
A billion rupee project to clean up Beira Lake had got off the ground with the foreign Partner of the project Groepo Pvt Ltd already installing machinery to clean up the lake.
CEO of Groepo Pvt Ltd Masasi Onsu told journalists that his company will use ‘Nanobubble Technology’ to clean up Beira Lake. “We will activate the bacteria that is located at the bottom of the lake. These bacteria, once activated, will in turn take away carbon dioxide and methane gases, which will clean up the water and remove the odour. You will notice an odour during the first few days, but it will go away for good, and also you will be able to fish in the lake once it is cleaned up,” he said.
“Bacteria in the lake will be activated by releasing oxygen to the lake from special machines that will be located around it,” he said. One machine is already installed according to him.
“We are always grateful to Sri Lanka for mediating on behalf of Japan at the San Francisco summit shortly after World War II and for giving us the gift of Buddhism. We thought of these deeds when we undertook this project,” he added.
“We have also offered to clean up the sewerage system of Colombo and to recycle sewage. We are awaiting a response from Sri Lanka in this regard. The Sri Lankan government wanted to wait until the Beira Lake project is completed,” he also said.
Senior Presidential Advisor Ashu Marasinghe who has negotiated with the Japanese company said the total cost of the project will be Rs 1 billion.” The clean-up operation will be done without importing any foreign bacteria,” he assured.
The clean-up will take six months to complete the pilot project and five years for the whole project, but the Japanese company is willing to stay on in Sri Lanka to carry out various operations for 20 years.
Also he said the government expect the fullest support from more than 50 companies which dispose of waste into Beira Lake.