CONCLUSION
When we talk about how tourism could be affected by the dam, we can see that economy and nature relate to this. When the dam will be built, no river related activities would be in the river and the tourism levels will decrease because of the wildlife and the natural state of the river. When the tourism decreases the economy of the place goes down as well. Not only the economy of the community living there but also the Sri Lankan economy. Firstly, the economy of the place will go down because of the fact that many shops are running their businesses because of the river and also because of the tourists which come to the river. For example, the shop keeper who was interviewed by the economy group said that more tourists visit her place rather than locals. This shows how many shops are dependent on the river and tourists. If the river stops because of the dam. Tourism levels will drop and so will the economy of the place as there are less people spending money on goods, the lesser the economy of the place becomes. Since Kitulgala tourism plays an important role in the tourism of Sri Lanka, the whole of Sri Lanka will be affected as well. The economy of Sri Lanka will hence drop.
When we talk about energy distribution in Sri Lanka we can see that most of the electricity is going towards Colombo. This is because of the population density in Colombo is higher than rural areas. Since more people mean more electricity needed, most of the electricity Sri Lanka makes is headed there. This relates to culture and energy. It is not false that some of the energy the dam produces will be used for local benefit of Kitulgala, but most of the energy will be headed off to Colombo. Thus it is important to realize that people in the rural areas of Colombo are not in a good state, and the population of Colombo increases when the number of people migrate from rural to urban areas, thus demanding more energy and leaving rural areas to be underdeveloped.
Thus in conclusion, the dam should not be built on the Kelani River because it will affect the nature, economy, culture and energy negatively. The negative outcomes outweigh to positive ones in this dam. It may be than in a few decades later, Sri Lankan economy increases because of the dam, but by then Sri Lanka will have to pay back its loans to China and other nations, resulting in a situation which Sri Lanka would not be able to pull out of.
This is a map of where the energy in Sri Lanka is distributed. We can see clearly in this map that the most energy is going to Colombo.