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Beira Lake, the notoriously polluted stretch of water in the heart of Colombo, has resisted clean-up efforts for decades. So, when word spread that a well-known businessman had agreed to personally foot the bill to flush it with seawater, it sounded like the rescue the capital had long been waiting for. Reports across social media and mainstream outlets named engineer and entrepreneur Nahil Wijesuriya as the man who had promised to fully fund the project. We investigated whether he is actually financing it. Here is what we found.
Social Media Posts:
Posts circulated on both social media and mainstream media reporting that a special technical project, designed as a short-term solution to clean Colombo’s Beira Lake using seawater, had been planned, and that leading businessman and engineer Nahil Wijesuriya had agreed to fully finance it. We set out to verify whether Wijesuriya had in fact agreed to fund the project. Our findings are below.
Mainstream media reported on the matter as follows.
Related posts are also circulated widely on social media as follows.
These posts circulated widely on social media as follows.
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We therefore set out to verify the truth behind this claim.
Fact Check:
Media and social media reports said that, at a meeting held at the Hunupitiya Gangaramaya Temple on an urgent and long-term integrated programme to clean up Beira Lake, discussions covered both an urgent technical project to flush out polluted water by introducing seawater into the lake and a long-term programme to remove waste and sludge. The reports stated that Nahil Wijesuriya would fully finance the initial phase, the introduction of seawater.
To confirm this directly, we contacted Nahil Wijesuriya’s representatives.
Nahil Wijesuriya’s Office: Free Technical Advice, Not Money
We spoke to Nahil Wijesuriya’s coordinating secretary, who clarified that Wijesuriya had agreed not to provide financial assistance for the Beira Lake cleanup, but to offer the necessary technical and professional guidance free of charge. He stressed that reports claiming Wijesuriya would provide financial funding for the project were false.
Deputy Minister Eranga Gunasekara: The Government Is Bearing the Full Cost
When we contacted the office of Deputy Minister of Urban Development Eranga Gunasekara, his media secretary said that after observing the severe odour problem affecting Beira Lake, the Minister and his team had decided to implement a permanent solution. Because that permanent solution would take about two and a half years, the Sri Lanka Land Reclamation and Development Corporation and the Urban Development Authority had jointly begun temporary cleanup work and sludge removal to reduce the current odour quickly.
Deputy Minister’s secretary said reports on social media claiming that a businessman was funding the project were inaccurate and clarified that those posts were not official statements issued by the Ministry or its officials. He noted that several project proposals concerning Beira Lake had been submitted, including one from a businessman, but that none mentioned any financial contribution, emphasizing that the entire cost of the current cleanup operations at Beira Lake is being borne by the government.
He further clarified that although various proposals, including introducing seawater into Beira Lake, had been put forward, no such project would be carried out without a formal technical assessment and established standards. The current cleanup is only a temporary measure, and the media secretary said this year’s budget would also allocate funding for a long-term project, including solutions for the sewage systems discharging waste into the lake.
The Cleanup Is a Joint Government Operation
Mainstream media again reported on the matter, noting that the government had launched an initiative to rehabilitate Beira Lake, which has been polluted over time by unregulated urbanisation and human activity. According to those reports, to deliver quick solutions, direct responsibility for maintaining and managing the lake’s water has been assigned to the Sri Lanka Land Reclamation and Development Corporation, working alongside the Sri Lanka Ports Authority, which owns and maintains the lake. Media reports are available here and here.
Deputy Minister Eranga Gunasekara also posted an update on his official social media page explaining the progress of the Beira Lake cleanup. He noted that a special water quality assessment by the Sri Lanka Land Reclamation and Development Corporation, covering 35 locations across the lake, had found critically elevated levels of harmful chemicals, including nitrogen, phosphorus and ammonia.
In response, the Deputy Minister said, the Corporation had launched a range of activities around Beira Lake, including removing floating debris and waste, clearing aquatic weeds, cleaning the lake’s embankments, continuously monitoring water quality and identifying the root causes of pollution. The full post can be viewed here.
The Government Information Department’s official Facebook page also released a video further clarifying the points raised by Deputy Minister Eranga Gunasekara about the Beira Lake cleanup. The video can be seen here.
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Conclusion:
Our fact-check found that reports claiming Nahil Wijesuriya is providing financial assistance for the Beira Lake cleanup are false. He is not funding the project. He has stated that he will offer his technical expertise free of charge.
Both Wijesuriya’s coordinating secretary and the office of Deputy Minister Eranga Gunasekara confirmed that no businessman is financing the work, and that the government is bearing the full cost. The cleanup has been launched as a joint project of the Sri Lanka Land Reclamation and Development Corporation, the Urban Development Authority and the Colombo Municipal Council.
Title: Who’s Really Paying? Untangling the Funding Behind Beira Lake’s Restoration
Fact Check By: B.P Hansani
Result: Misleading
