Surrounded by soaring buildings in the middle of Colombo, The Beira Lake stirs gently under the paddles of an all-girl regatta team.
The Beira was built by the Portuguese as a moat to protect Colombo against the Kotte kings and went through many facelifts under the Dutch and the British.
The Lake currently occupies central Colombo in four basins – identified as the East Lake, Galle Face Lake, West Lake and South West Lake.
With an area of 0.433 square kilometres with a depth of 5.6 metres, the East Lake is Beira’s largest basin.
The Colombo Rowing Club, the People’s Bank, Bally’s Casino, the Lotus Tower, St Joseph’s College, the Teachers’ Union and the Colombo Malay Cricket Club are some of the well known places that share the East Lake’s waterfront.
Our publication, Lake House borrows its eponymous title from the Beira.
In recent years a linear park or jogging track was developed by the Urban Development Authority (UDA).
The Beira Lake Intervention Area Development Guide Plan (2022-2031) was approved by Gazette Extraordinary No. 2274/03 on April 4, 2022.
The plan indentified potentials related to the area such as its distinctive identity as a landmark, scenic viewpoints, potential for commerce and tourism and prevailing high demand for prime real estate.
According to the Development Guide Plan (DGP) around 70 percent of the East Beira Lake reservation was converted to a Linear Park with attracting people for recreational purposes.
In addition to the linear park, the recreational plan includes visual corridors, green road widening, nodal parks and new bridges, the DGP further states.
Linear Park
On Monday (24), this writer took a scenic tour around part of the linear park. Entering through the McCallum Lock Gates adjacent to the Lake House building, you enter the linear park behind the Sri Lanka Exhibition and Convention Centre.
The path looked clean except for piles of trash heaped and burned next to the chain link fences. Some of the benches found in the vicinity were with missing planks. Except for a few couples and sanitary workers, there weren’t many pedestrians around.
The Biera was once connected to the Port and barges loaded with cargo used to travel to and fro from the many warehouses on the waterfront. Some of these old warehouses stand even today. Some are in derelict condition while others have been repurposed.
Lotus Tower
Walking ahead one encounters another derelict installation; an arch bridge with ‘potholes’ meaning some of its beams had given way and hastily stapled with plywood. This writer cautiously nudged it with his foot and found it increasingly unstable as it had soaked in a lot of water. This is a disaster waiting to happen for some jogger going on their morning run or even an unsuspecting child.
After ten minutes of walking past gigantic warehouses you can see the behemoth Lotus Tower up close. The linear park meanders 100m through this section and is relatively well- maintained.
Out in the parking lot, tour buses rolled in and out nonchalantly. This section of the park fits the brochure; there were short trees, brightly coloured food kiosks, picnic tables and a restaurant decorated with string lights.
The restaurant manager had just finished talking to the staff before a busy night ahead. This writer asked him about the linear park.
“Usually, the people who visit Lotus Tower come here”.
“What about the people taking the jogging path?” this writer inquired
Rarely, he said. According to him, visitors don’t wander off and explore the jogging track.
Through the green turnstile, one exits the Lotus Tower section but that’s before you notice a drain carrying copious amounts of sludge.
Then one passes the rear of St Joseph’s College, Derana Studios and Excel World. A white pavillion rises above the Lake’s southern apex and the water is covered with water hyacinth.
Given the proximity to many offices, one can notice blue collar workers taking breaks in this section.
The state of disrepair in some sections, prompted the Sunday Observer to call the UDA for answers.
Director – Project Management Western Region, architect Thushari Thilakarathne said that there are ongoing works and arrested developments due to a circular that was issued limiting the Treasury’s funds for certain projects. “We had to halt it to a certain extent. We are searching for a way to fund the rest of the project and have forwarded details to the World Bank to recommence the work if they are approved,” she said.
We asked if the UDA was looking for investment and she said that the UDA welcomes private parties to invest in the plan. “We have worked with investors from adjoining properties. Interested parties have to follow guidelines and present a Memorandum of Understanding”.
We asked about the damage and she said that sections are maintained by separate entities. “While some are maintained by the UDA the issue here is that we don’t have the necessary funds. The whole of Beira is not owned by one party. The UDA is trying to maintain its sections, it’s just that we don’t have enough money to undertake when the damage is large,” she said while adding that grievances have been raised in the master program which suggested conferring the maintenance of the linear path to an entity. “This is being negotiated. The Colombo Municipal Council has the potential to carry this out since they have equipment and manpower,” she said.
Unique ecosystem
Through the walk one notices a few birds such as cranes and other waterfowl. Curious, we decided to speak to some environmentalists for their opinion.
One environmental activist said that Beira Lake is one of the last bastions of ornithological and ichthyological diversity in the city. “Because Colombo is a coastal city and much of the city is situated in the coastal zone the Lake reflects that. As you are aware the Biera Lake has shrunk considerably due to urban development,” he said.
The entrance to Colombo Fort – Kayman’s Gate was named after the Dutch word for crocodile or ‘kaaiman’ because mugger crocodiles were found in large numbers in the Beira and would flock to eat rubbish thrown out from the Fort. This historical example alone shows how large the Lake was once and its biodiversity.
“There are 20 to 40 different species of avian fauna. Although nobody has done a survey on the Biera’s ichthylogical diversity yet some senior researchers have recorded different species of fish,” he said and added that if a proper clean-up of the Lake is done there is a chance of these species being rediscovered.
We asked about policy failures. “Pragmatically, one of the things that has failed is the lack of recognition of the Colombo metropolitan area’s biodiversity whether it is the Biera Lake, Bellanwila-Attidiya, Sri Jayewardenepura or any of the other ecologically sensitive areas,” he said and added that projects such as the Urban Fishing Cat Project do serious work highlighting biodiversity remaining in urban and metropolitan areas.
The other point he said that serious attention should be paid is environmental planning and management at Municipal, Urban and Divisional levels.
Ornithological importance
Meanwhile, conservationist and environmental lawyer Prof. Jagath Gunawardena said that around 100 bird species were identified at the Biera in an unpublished report conducted decades ago.
“I have been studying birds around the Biera since 1985, and the number of birds has declined since then,” he said.
Dr. Gunawardena said he is not sure if pollution brought about the decline because pollution existed even during the ‘80s. “Due to the new developments, the small bird habitats were lost”.
He said that the report identified sandpipers and terns. Other birds didn’t have mudflats to burrow.
“Now we are left with waterfowls and flying birds. The wading birds and small herons have lost their habitat. When you make things ‘neat’ and ‘tidy’ animals lose their habitats,” he said referring to urban landscaping.
The Beira Lake stands at a crossroads between urban development and environmental conservation. While projects such as the Linear Park aim to enhance public spaces, financial constraints and fragmented maintenance have left sections in disrepair. The Lake’s rich biodiversity, once teeming with bird and fish species continues to shrink under urban pressure.
Experts stress the need for integrated environmental planning to ensure the Beira Lake’s sustainable future. With proper investment, policy attention and ecological sensitivity, the Lake can thrive as a recreational hub and a sanctuary for Colombo’s dwindling urban wildlife.
