The decision taken by Dinesh Gunawardana to reconstruct the Matara Town in Godagama, Palatuwa area is a wise one. There are vast areas of abandoned paddy lands, approximately 20,000 acres, bordering Godagama, Palatuwa, Sulthanagoda, Bandathara and Hithetiya. Due to the bad planning of the Nilvala Ganga Scheme introduced by the UNP regime 20 years ago 20,000 acres of paddy fields could not be cultivated due to the inflow of sea water along the channels dug under the project. It is a credit for the son of the late Philip Gunawardana, father of the Paddy Lands Act, if he helps these poor farmers by paying a lump sum as compensation for the waste paddy lands and reconstructs Matara Town over them.

As an engineer, I have seen how new towns like Singapore and Guangzhou (in south China) with 40, 50 storeyed buildings have been constructed over marshy land. The Godagama plan will help those who lost their houses in Matara as well as the poor villagers who have been deprived of cultivating their paddy fields for the last 20 years. Even the planned Colombo-Matara expressway up to Godagama and the railway track could be extended across these paddy lands up to Kataragama and later to Batticaloa.

Housing flats like in Singapore could be constructed in the vast areas of paddy land. This will avoid the acquisition of valuable land, creating displeasure among the people.

The entire Matara district would be developed under this project and thousands of youth could be provided employment.

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse and Minister Mangala Samaraweera would perhaps also like this proposal as they are also from the south.