Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse on Thursday inaugurated the country's largest ever single agriculture development project in the central town of Elahera.

Inaugurating the Moragahakanda Reservoir Project which will cost about 38.5 billion rupees (about 360 million U.S. dollars), Rajapakse said "I consider this massive reservoir as an asset that we bequeath to a country that has a bright and radiant future."

Under this project, two major reservoirs with a total capacity of 836 cubic meters will be constructed in the north-central part of the country.

The project will provide irrigation facilities to 87,439 hectares of farm land in Matale, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and Trincomalee districts. It will also increase water supply to the above four districts for industrial use.

The government said the project is expected to increase the country's annual agricultural products by 17 million dollars.

Due to construction of the project, about 2,500 families have to be resettled.

Government sources said due to time consumed on various feasibility studies, the construction work on the project had been delayed for more than 30 years.

Source: Xinhua