Golden Era Of Canada-Sri Lanka Relations – Part-I

By Senaka A. Samarasinghe –JULY 18, 2021

Senaka A. Samarasinghe

The Colombo Plan

Immediately after the Second World War (WWII), Canada and the United State took a lead role to rebuild international financial systems through the creation of new institutions and programs in Europe. Among them Marshall Plan (European Recovery Program) was the most well-known and was initiated in 1948. Main objectives were to rebuild war-torn regions, remove trade barriers, modernize industry, improve European prosperity, and prevent the spread of communism. Similarly, for Asia-Pacific region on July 1st 1950 the Colombo Plan was formed for cooperative, economic and social advancement, named as such because the meeting was held in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka (then Ceylon). This is one of the oldest regional inter-governmental organizations established by Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom and currently has expanded to 27 member countries (1).

The objectives of the Colombo Plan were:

* to promote interest in and support the economic and social development of Asia and the Pacific;

* to promote technical cooperation and assist in the sharing and transfer of technology among member countries;

* to keep under review relevant information on technical cooperation between the member governments, multilateral and other agencies with a view to accelerate development through cooperative effort; and

* to facilitate the transfer and sharing of the developmental experiences among member countries within the region with an emphasis on the concept of South-South cooperation (2).

Modernising Railways in Sri Lanka under the Colombo Plan

In 1883, a company called the Locomotive and Machine Company of Montreal Ltd was established. In 1904 this Company was purchased by the American Locomotive Co (ALCO). With the development of Post-war diesel competition, General Motors (GM) formed in 1949 a new Company named General Motors Diesel Division in London with a Canadian subsidiary in Ontario.

Ceylon Government Railway (CGR) (later Sri Lanka Government Railway – SLGR) was contemplating to do away with steam engines and to introduce diesel engines and this was done with Colombo Plan funding. Accordingly, in 1954, General Motors (GM) manufactured fourteen (14) locomotives, which were exported to Sri Lanka. These were popularly known in Sri Lanka as Canadian Engines. These engines were named after the Canadian 10 Provinces and two Canadian cities, to wit: (1) Ontario, (2) Alberta, (3) Saskatchewan, (4) British Colombia, (5) Quebec, (6) Manitoba, (7) Nova Scotia, (8) New Brunswick, (9) Prince Edward Island, (10) Newfoundland (ten Provinces), (11) Montreal, (12) Vancouver (two Canadian cities). Locomotives 13 and 14 were made in the United States and were imported for the Cement Corporation, Sri Lanka. They were named (13) Galle and (14) Kankasanthure (two Sri Lankan cities) because these were used to transport clinker (raw material for cement) from Kankasanthure to the cement factory in Galle. Later these two engines were handed to the Sri Lanka Railway’s locomotive fleet. The engine capacity of these two locomotives were 1500 Horse Power (HP), whereas, the others manufactured in Canada had 6000 HP and were capable to carry 150 rail carriages at 65 MPH.

Thus in 1954, Colombo Plan funds were utilized for providing 14 GM diesel locomotives to CGR to replace the steam engines and the CGR was able to complete its programme within ten years.
The South-bound Yal Devi train with thirteen carriages powered by Alberta, whilst on its run from Kankesanthure (KKS) through Jaffna to Colombo was blasted on Jan. 19th 1985 by the Tamil Tiger terrorists (LTTE), by triggering a landmine when it was nearing Murikandi-Kokavil station. The Sri Lanka Army camp at Kokavil fell into the hands of the Terrorists which made the northern railway line effectively impossible, till after the end of the war in 2009.

On Dec. 26, 2004 was another major mishap. The Southern line Matara Express train pulled by the locomotive Manitoba on the costal line with approximately 1,700 passengers on board was hit by a huge Tsunami wave, which towered 40 feet, at Peraliya, when the train was more than 200 metres away from the beach. As a result, the giant 78 tons locomotive Manitoba was carried more than 100 metres from the railway track killing many passengers and the crew of the engine (3).

Hardy Institute – Ampara – Gal Oya Multi-Purpose River Basin Development Project

In 1933, the Tennessee State in the US formed the Tennessee Valley Authority to implement the US Government owned multipurpose river basin project. The selected area for management was 150 miles (240 km) based on the drainage basin of Tennessee River. In 1948, Sri Lanka started a similar project by damming the Gal Oya 108 km (67 miles) long river at Iginiyagala. Just after independence from British colonial rule, the first Government of independent Sri Lanka, one of the Commonwealth member countries, decided to start multipurpose river basin development projects to provide self-sufficiency in the staple food of rice.

In 1907, University of Saskatchewan was started. Within a short period, this became an important agricultural education institute on the Canadian prairies. Prof. Evan Alan Hardy was the head of its Departments of Agriculture and Engineering for over 30 years. With this experience Prof. Hardy came to Sri Lanka as a Consultant to work on dry zone agriculture under the auspices of the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization (UN/FAO) and the Asia Foundation. About the same time, in 1956, the Colombo Plan decided to lend counterpart funds to the Gal Oya project to start a Regional Technical Training Institute for South Asia. Prof. Hardy was selected as the Director of this Institute. Subsequently, students from Burma (presently Myanmar), Malaysia, North Borneo, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore also joined. He was the Director of this Institute until 1966. Under the Colombo Plan this Institute was provided with an auditorium, lecture halls, machinery and other equipment, laboratories, an agricultural farm demonstration area, hostels for students and a library (4).

The Institute started with 70 students with Project engineering and agricultural staff. The course period was 11 months, which was residential; and the main subjects covered were irrigation, soil science, agriculture, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and surveying. They studied from 7.00 a.m. to 8.00 p.m. and their leisure time was even supervised by the lecturing staff. Hardy Institute graduates went on for further studies and professional services to United Kingdom, United States, Canada and Australia. In Sri Lanka, the Gal Oya Development Project was able to replace foreign engineers very quickly with the Hardy Institute graduates who performed well in service.

In 1967, the Institute was renamed Hardy Senior Technical Institute (also known as Hardy advanced Technological Institute) in honour of the pioneering work of Professor E.A. Hardy of Canada. The Institute carried out a National Diploma in Technology (NDT) course until it was transferred to the Institute of Technology of the University of Moratuwa. In 1893, the Ceylon Technical Faculty started the Junior Technical Officers (JTO) course (5).

As a token of gratitude for his services the Evan A. Hardy Memorial Museum was opened at the Hardy Institute campus in Ampara in May, 2010 by the Canadian High Commissioner Mr. Bruce Levy. More than a decade of service (1956 – 1967) and the vision of Prof. Hardy created a new era in engineering education in Sri Lanka giving emphasis to field-level practical experiences that was initiated with the Gal Oya multipurpose river development project.

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