by Sanjeevi Jayasuriya
There is a ray of hope in all Sri Lankan hearts that the present process of peace will lead to achieving lasting peace in the country. For nearly two decades, the country lost its valuable youth in the battle field and so far only the winner being the on going war.

With the passing of time and a lot of hard work will pave the way for peace and the soldiers who sacrifice their lives in the name of the motherland will only be a forgotten memory. It will not be so with the efforts taken by the Ceylon Tobacco Company (CTC) in sponsoring the Remembrance Park to be built in commemoration of national heroes, which is under construction now in Mailapitiya. The project will be completed in June this year at an estimated cost of over Rs. five million.

For this purpose a 30 acre land overlooking the backwaters of the Victoria Reservoir had been allocated by the Ranaviru Seva Authority (RSA) and the project has been given the green light by the Mahaweli and the Environment Ministries.

This will be the first common place in Sri Lanka to enable the families and friends of departed soldiers to pay their respect and after the project is completed, it will have all the names of the soldiers who have gone missing in action, said Lt. Col. Denis Perera, the chairman, CTC. This concept, though novel to Sri Lanka, in other countries in the world where war had become a major part of their history, had built similar parks, he said. "We were selected by the President to under take this project being the best listed ten companies by her, Perera added.

Six acres of land will be landscaped and converted to stone platforms to engrave the names of the missing soldiers as the first phase of construction, Perera said. There will be a monument in the middle of the site with a continuous flow of water and at the entrance there will be four shrine rooms for the main religions to be observed. Apart from these, an information centre will also be set up and the area will be planted with Nuga, Na, Ehala, Pihimbia, Jack and Mango trees together with decorative plants to add colour to the place, he said. The project was architected by Turnor Wickramasinghe and it is not a cemetery, but a place of remembrance, he added.

A foot path to the nearby hill will lead to the eternal flame lit at the hill top all 365 days of the year fuelled by gas, Perera said. The project machinery is provided by the army and they also engage in earth work, he said. The initial work such as surveying the land and marking the boundaries were started early February and now the construction work had begun, he noted. Perera stressed the point that no damage to the environment, trees or plants has been done and even the water is taken from the Maho project. "We have used the resources available in the area preserving its natural beauty, he said.

The Park will be looked after by families of three disabled soldiers housed in the project site, Perera said. The project is done according to the Mahaweli Authority instructions, which include the constructions should be started 20 meters away from the high flood level, he pointed out. Once the project is completed, each regiment of Army, Navy, Air Force and the Police will be given a plot to engrave the names of departed soldiers which the initial estimates recorded as 14,000, he said.

Commenting on selecting the area, Perera said that this is a wonderful site and centrally located with running water nearby, and easily approachable. The park is scheduled to be open on the 7 June in commemorating the National heroes day, he said.