In 1949 work commenced on the most ambitious development scheme so far carried out in Ceylon, for the opening up of some 400,000 acres of forest for agricultural and industrial purposes. The whole scheme comes under the auspices of an autonomous body “The Gal Oya Development Board”. A dam has been built across the Gal Oya, which is a perennial river, to form, a vast reservoir, the largest in the island, covering some 35·8 square miles. Large tracts of forest-land have been cleared for cultivation and settlement and a net-work of roads and distributory channels has been constructed.