Chapter 5 TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY 5.1 General This chapter will select the routes that have the basic physical characteristics for a navigable transport system within CMR out of a selection of the best routes that poses a reasonable potential for operating a public transport system will be identified. 5.2 Identified Waterway Routes in CMR. Five independent waterway systems listed below, can be identified on existing physical conditions to provide navigable channels connecting key transport nodes. These are, 1. Kelani River system from Peliyagoda up to Hanwella in Northern CMR. 2. Hamilton Canal System from Colombo to Negambo town via Kelani River from Peliyagoda, Hamilton Canal, Negambo Lagoon in the Northern CMR. 39 3. Colombo Beira Lake system in Central CMR. 4. Wellawatte-Kirillapone Canal system in Central CMR. 5. Bolgoda Lake system in Southern CMR. The above five systems cannot be considered as a single system due to lack of navigability of the interconnecting waterways and have been considered as independent systems. However, out of the above five systems only the two systems; Colombo Beira Lake and Wellawatte- Kirillapone Canal system in the Central CMR poses the basic characteristics for public transport and elimination of the other three would be justified as follows. 5.2.1 Justification of Non Feasible Routes 5.2.1.1 Kelani River System The elimination of this system for public transport is solely on environmental grounds. Colombo's main water supply intake lies at Ambatale, approximately 10 kms upstream of St. Sebastian Canal and 15 kms upstream from the river mouth. At the confluence of the St. Sebastian Canal, the water quality of the Kelani River is poor, and is degraded by the industrial and domestic wastewater outfall of the Greater Colombo area. Thus any kind of motorised navigation would further degrade the water quality of the Kelani River, which has a huge economic cost on the country. Furthermore, the river regime is influenced by the intrusion of seawater in the estuary. A salinity level along the river depends mainly on the upstream fresh water discharge, but also on the seawater volume that penetrates into the river with strong tides. Salt intrusion is also favoured by sand extraction from the riverbed (UDA, 1996). According to DHI, Kelani River water near Ambatale presently has a 40 salinity level of 0.5%, which is acceptable for drinking water. But there is a proposal by the environmental authorities to construct a salinity barrier across the Kelani River to mitigate this problem, which would hamper navigation beyond that point. Hence by considering the environmental impacts, which also needs further studies to be assessed, and the future developments on the system, it can be eliminated as technically non-feasible. 5.2.1.2 Hamilton Canal Syste m Table 5.1 Road speeds & Passenger flows on Negambo Road Corridor. (1999) Dist. On Modal Share (%) Avg Road Total Pax. Location A3 Speed ('000) Bus PV Rail (Km) (Km/h) Victoria Bridge 1.7 237 61.7 34.9 3.4 26.4 Peliyagoda 3.0 289 59.0 38.0 2.9 24.0 Wattala 7.0 213 63.6 32.4 4.0 30.6 Thudella 17.0 138 69.0 25.6 5.4 32.7 Kochikade 39.4 116 78.3 18.0 3.7 37.9 (CMR Boundary) Source: CUTS2 Working Paper 25, 1999 The road speeds and passenger flow on the corridor from Colombo to Negambo along the A3 highway are tabulated in Table 5.1 (Atkins, 1999). It could be seen that the average road speed in this corridor increases with distance from Colombo City where the average road speed at Peliyagoda and Kochikade being 24 & 38 km/h respectively (Table 5.1) where the average daily traffic (ADT) entering the Colombo city from this corridor is 58,846 veh/day (Kumarage, 1999). According to the Source Book of Cities and Automobile Dependence the average speed on canal is taken as 25 km/h (Newman, Kenworthy, 1990), which is the average speed, maintained in inland waterways in the 41 world of similar capacity as in CMR where the stoppage times at terminals and other delays in between are accounted. Table 5.2 Travel distance & time between Victoria Bridge and Negambo Town Travel Time (Mts) Travel User Peak Off Peak Distance (Km) By Car 90 45 Road 30.5 By Bus 100 60 Canal 72 30.1 (At the speed of 25 km/h) The Table 5.2 compares the travel distance and travel time from Negambo to Peliyagoda via road and canal. The travel distances through canal are taken using the digital data provided by the Survey Department and by the use of ArcView GIS Version 3.1 software. The travel time tabulated for canal is without the waiting and transfer time upon which canal users have a marginal benefit on travel time saving during the peak period. The average daily road and rail passengers entering the city through the Victoria Bridge from this corridor is 237,000 Pax./day out of which approximately 40% is generated from Ja-Ela, Kandana & Wattala areas (Table 5.1). According to the surveys done by the Transport Engineering division of University of Moratuwa, the average daily trips that have originated from Negambo to Colombo and vise-versa are 29,405 Pax./day, out of which 60% are by bus, whom will be the most benefited by a canal service. However the demand for the waterway solely depends on the above two end points Negambo and Peliyagoda, as trips generated in between them will be very low due to the low residential population along the canal banks apart from Uswettakeyyawa and Pamunugama areas where the people have a direct benefit on access to the main roads which is lacking at the moment. However, the trip generation from these areas are not substantial to make an impact on the canal service. 42 Further the fact that the Hamilton Canal is 3.8 km east of the existing Colombo- Puttalam Highway (Fig 5.1) and poor transfer and access between the canal and the highway makes the attraction to the canal from the present trip generating zones very low. Though the number of daily passengers between Negambo and Colombo is encouraging for the canal service, when the proposed Colombo - Katunayake Expressway (Fig. 5.1) is completed it will considerably reduce the travel time of intercity commuters between Negambo & Colombo, which will draw the Negambo - Colombo passengers from the canal back to the road. Thus its sustainability as a mode of public transport is questionable particularly due to the impact from CKE. 5.2.1.3 Bolgoda Lake System The Bolgoda System in the Southern CMR consists of Northern Bolgoda Lake, Panadura River, Bolgoda River and Southern Bolgoda Lake as navigable waterways and the two canals; Aluth Ela and Keppu Ela connecting the Southern Bolgoda Lake to Kalu Ganga which are non navigable at present. The Werassa Ganga north of Northern Bolgoda Lake is also non navigable. Thus there is only two continuous links that can be identified for public transport in the Bolgoda Lake systems. These are between Kospalana Bridge near University of Moratuwa to Panadura Town via Panadura River and Kospalana to Bolgoda via Bolgoda River (Fig 5.2). The disadvantage for the system as a public transport mode is due to its radial flow with the road network and due to its course being along less populated areas. The above two navigable links cannot be justified as a mode of public transport considering the low passenger movement along the corridor. According to the TRANSPLAN V.4, the average daily flow at Bolgoda along the Panadura - Bandaragama road is 6130 Veh/day. Slow boat 44 speeds and the longer distance along the Pandura River to Panadura from Kospalana, compared with road travel further diminish its merit. Slow speeds are particularly due to 'Ja Kotu', and removal of which would make a huge social problem as many people make their living out of it. Though continuity to Kalutara could be made after dredging the Keppu Ela, the longer distance compared with road makes it non justifiable. Fig 5.2 Map of Bolgoda Lake System 4> Considering the above, Bolgoda Lake system as a mode of public transport can be eliminated, as it is evident from the above data that the system would not be sustainable. But it has a potential for recreational activities, the study of the feasibility of which is beyond the scope of this thesis. 5.2.2 Justification of Feasible Routes. 5.2.2.1 Wellawatte - Kirillapone Canal The 8.1 km long, navigable channel from Diyawanna Oya up to the sea outfall at Wellawatte passes through 4 A-class highways and 3 B- class roads listed below, making it one of the most potential waterways for public transport as it acts as a transverse link for the radial roads in the city. Pig 5.3 Map of Wellawatte - Kirillapone Canal System 46 The main roads that have access to the canal are, • Kollupitiya - Sri Jayawardenapura Road • Colombo - Galle Road (A2) • Colombo - Rathnapura Road (Havelock Road) (A4) • Baseline Road • Nawala Road • Duplication Road • Narahenpita Road The saving on travel distances for bus passengers and car passengers who will use the boat service as a part of their journey are tabulated in Table 5.3 for a selected O-D pairs which reflects the influence of the transverse canal link. The saving for car passengers is shown in parenthesis. Table 5.3 Travel distance saving for bus /(car) users transferring to boat Travel Distance Batt. Raja. Narah Open Uni.