Farmers protest wind power project

(June 23, 2011) Residents of Mampuri village in Sri Lanka’s north-western Puttalam district demonstrated on Wednesday against the expansion of a wind turbine farm by the Senok Wind Power Company that aims to boost the nation’s energy production. About 300 Catholic and Buddhist farmers, joined by priests from local parishes, gathered to protest the expansion they say could deprive them of the land they depend on for their livelihoods. “As villagers depend on cultivation, they fear whether their lands would be taken for the project,” said Father Sampath Prasanga Perera, parish priest in Mampuri. The project, approved in 2010 with US$3.8 million in funding from the World Bank Group’s International Finance Commission, plans to expand existing wind farm operations in Mampuri. “Officials should rethink implementing the project,” Father Perera said. “We do not condemn development, but it should not harm the livelihood of our farmers,” he added. The estimated 650 mostly Catholic families that live in Mampuri village depend largely on farming for their livelihoods. The expanded wind farm is expected to generate 28 million kilowatts. Officials say the location was selected to take advantage of the area’s favourable monsoon wind patterns. Kelwin Rodrigo, 60, a farmer in Mampuri, urged the government to reconsider the location of the additional turbines. He requested the relevant authorities to plant the turbines either along the beach or lagoon; then it would not harm anyone.”