Abstract:
Homagama Techno-City project is one of the largest projects in Sri Lanka with over
182 ha of area focusing on promoting artificial intelligence, distributed computing,
robotics, genetics, nanotechnology, and bioengineering and it is essential to
determine the environmental impact caused by the land use change for the sustainable
development of the area further. Therefore, this study was conducted to (I) analyze
the land use /land cover changes in three GN divisions (Pitipana South, Pitipana
North, Dampe), of Homagama Sri Lanka over the years 1980 to 2022 by using
Geographic Information System (GIS) maps and geometric calculations and (II) to
estimate the environmental impact of land use changes by analyzing runoff
coefficients of the area from 2003 to 2022. Three GIS maps were generated for three
GN divisions using Arc GIS (version 10.8) for the years1980, 2003, 2022 separately
and geometry calculations were carried out. For the determination of the
environmental impact, runoff coefficients were calculated. The mainland uses of
Pitipana GNs were classified as paddy, cultivation, forest, residential, Techno-City,
rocks & bare lands, and unknown lands. The Techno-City project accounts for 4.4%
of the total land area. The total cultivation area has been decreased by 11% while the
residential area has been increased by the same percentage from 2003 to 2022.
According to the developed GIS map for the land use in the year 2003, paddy land
area represents 14.5% of the total area, while cultivations, forest, residential areas,
rocks and bare lands account for 18.99%, 24.35%, 35.15%, and 7% respectively while
it was 14.21%, 7.97%, 19.42%, 46.41%, 7,14%, and 4.38% for paddy cultivations,
forest, residential, rocks, bare lands, and Techno-City respectively in the year of
2022. There is no significant difference in runoff coefficient in the year 2003 (0.32)
and 2022 (0.30) with the land use change according to the study. A detailed study is
recommended and will be beneficial for preserving the sustainability of the area.
