However, a question has arisen as to whether the ammunition would be stored in secure warehouses.
Only the ammo dumps at Welisara, Salawa and Veyangoda have been considered as being safe.
In addition, a large arms and ammo dump was maintained during the war at the Bandaranaike jetty of the Colombo port.
However, all the ammunition cannot be stored at Welisara, and attention has been drawn to establish new facilities in Anuradhapura and Mullaitivu.
Located in a densely populated area
The Veyangoda ammo dump is located in a densely populated area, is less safe than the Salawa facility and does not have facilities to store ammunition safely.
Situated 500 metres from Veyangoda town on Keenawala road, the ammo dump has Bandaranayake Central College located only 400 metres away, and also has several apartment complexes located close by in the residential neighbourhood.
Also, an economic centre is located 400 metres away and the Colombo-Kandy rail track 300 runs metres beyond.
If any accident happens at the Veyangoda ammo dump, the destruction will be immense, as more than 15,000 tons of ammunition is stored there.
The ammo dump is housed in the former Veytex factory premises, built in the 1960s which has no underground storage.
The Salawa facility had several underground storage and the location of several high rise buildings close by controlled the damage to some extent.
Safety of the facility
However, the Veyangoda ammo dump has no such high rise buildings for protection, and no sand banks or sand bags are there at least.
For an on-ground ammo dump, there should be a protective barrier of at least 10 feet.
Also, trees or grass is not grown within a 100 metre area of the facility.
However, at the Veyangoda ammo dump, a tree planting took place recently, and two large kitchens for the camp are located within a 50 metre area.
The most worrying thing is that the Veyangoda facility does not have an ammunition technical officer to supervise the ammunition stored there.
In addition, the camp at Veyangoda accommodates a brigade and has several Army units.
The ammo dump has ammunition which is 20 to 30 years old, and houses multi-barrel and artillery ammunition as well as ammunition seized from the LTTE.
In addition to ammunition bought from China’s Norinco company, it also has a large amount of ammunition belonging to the Chinese company stored there.
More than enough amounts of ammunition were imported from China during the war, and it is unclear as to why the ammunition remains stored there seven years after the war.
Former regime took no steps
The previous Rajapaksa regime nor the present government has taken any measure to return the ammunition to China.
After the Salawa facility was destroyed, former defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said he had got ammunition transferred to Veyangoda as Salawa was unsafe.
However, it is now clear the Veyangoda facility is in a much worse state than the Salawa ammo dump.
Army’s chief-of-staff Maj. Gen. Milinda Peiris visited the Veyangoda facility and took steps to strengthen its safety.
Although relocation of the Veyangoda ammo dump is under discussion, that cannot be done in a hurry.
Related articles:
Exclusive: unqualified officers were in charge of Kosgama ammo dump
Drill or test caused fire at Salawa camp?
Veyangoda central arms, ammo dump too, comes under scrutiny
‘No need to remove Army commander’
Salawa ammo dump not supervised for a long period
Salawa blast occurred as ammo were to be sold back to China
Cause for ammo dump blast still unknown
