CSR PROJECTS · 7 min read
Sampath Bank Publishes The Cost Of Every Tank In Wewata Jeewayak, Now In Its 25th Year
Sampath Bank’s Annual Report 2025 gives the rupee cost, number of acres, and number of families for each tank restored under the Wewata Jeewayak programme, and the figures in the fourteen rows total exactly what the programme’s headline states. Few companies in Sri Lanka provide such a detailed programme-level costing. This article credits this practice, explains how the beneficiary figure is calculated, and indicates what could be included in the next report.
By the ESGNexus Editorial Team · September 2026 · Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
KEY TAKEAWAYS
|
Most Sri Lankan companies which publish a figure on community investment give only a single figure for the entire company, and that’s the end of it; Sampath Bank, however, takes a different approach with respect to its flagship programme. In its Annual Report 2025, the Wewata Jeewayak tank restoration programme—now in its 25th year—is presented on a tank-by-tank basis, with the number of families reached, the acres served, the partners involved, and the works carried out listed alongside each rupee amount.
The total cost of the fourteen items listed is Rs 63.74 Mn; the figure given in the heading on the following page is Rs 63.7 Mn. The figures in the ‘acres’ column add up to 3,370, which is what the heading states. A reader could verify the programme’s own calculations simply by referring to the report.
The Programme As Sampath Discloses It
The project carried out by Wewata Jeewayak in the dry and intermediate zones aims to restore neglected irrigation tanks to ensure rural farming communities have a continuous water supply for their paddy fields. The report makes its objective clear: it aims to enable small-scale farmers to cultivate during both the Yala and Maha seasons. The footprint page lists 40 tanks in ten districts, ranging from the Udamaththala Wewa in Hambantota, tagged in 2001, to the eleven tanks carried out in 2025 (p.151).
Sampath carries out its work through named partners; each entry on the tanks lists the farmers’ association, the Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka, the Department of Agrarian Development’s district offices, and the Irrigation Department as partners (p.152). The 2025 programme began with a tripartite agreement between the associations and the Mahaweli Authority (p. 151). Furthermore, the bank provided the associations with fibreglass boats to remove weeds and helped each association set up a tank maintenance fund, into which farmers make contributions (p.155).
The Numbers, From Investment To Outcome
| Level | What Sampath Publishes, 2025 | Page |
| Input: money | Rs 63.7 Mn for the programme, costed across 14 tanks; Rs 24 Mn (2023) and Rs 35 Mn (2024) in the three-year table | 153, 152, 49 |
| Output: what was delivered | 11 new tank projects, 40 undertaken to date; 28 tanks reported restored to 31 December 2025; 3,370 acres of paddy land rejuvenated; 3,695 families across the tank entries | 153, 31, 152 |
| Intermediate outcome: capacity | Acres of paddy land served by each tank; maintenance funds and boats handed to farmers’ associations | 152, 155 |
| Outcome: change in the farmer’s condition | Not yet published: seasons cultivated, yield, income, or a before-and-after baseline | — |
Source: Sampath Bank PLC, Annual Report 2025 (year ended 31 December 2025), printed pages as shown. Programme scope, 2025 unless stated. The bank’s own tables are reproduced as printed; the level labels are ESGNexus’s.
In the first three rows, the level of detail is unusually high for a programme in Sri Lanka, since Sampath lists, in the same report and on neighbouring pages, the amount of money involved, the deliveries, and the capacity for a specific initiative. The fourth row, however, is blank, a situation that holds for almost all corporate programmes in this market, and it is this row that would indicate whether restoring the tanks affects the crops that farmers grow and the amount they earn.
What Sampath Does Well
The per-tank table stands out. For the eleven new projects, the amount invested per tank in 2025 ranges from Rs 3.37 Mn to Rs 6.22 Mn, and for the three second-phase projects relating to older tanks, it ranges from Rs 0.65 Mn to Rs 1.84 Mn (p.152). This difference directly answers a natural question a reader might have: fourteen tanks are given cost estimates, while only eleven are referred to as new because three are continuing previous restorations. The table also shows that one tank, Divuldamana, covers 1,575 of the 3,370 acres for the year.
The second point relates to the series. Since the sustainability data table shows investment amount and the number of beneficiaries for three consecutive years (page 49), there is no need to review three separate reports to see how the programme is growing. The rate of growth is also apparent in the footprint list: five tanks were tagged in 2023, eight in 2024 and eleven in 2025.
| Year | Programme Investment (Rs Mn, As Printed) | Beneficiaries (As Printed) |
| 2023 | 24 | 5,316 |
| 2024 | 35 | 6,208 |
| 2025 | 64 | 14,780 |
Source: Sampath Bank PLC, Annual Report 2025, Social data table, p.49. The 2025 investment is stated as Rs 63.7 Mn on p. 153. The milestone page (p.53) gives nine tanks undertaken in 2024; the footprint list (p.151) tags eight.
The third point is separation. In 2025, Sampath donated Rs 100 Mn to the Government’s Rebuild Sri Lanka Fund following Cyclone Ditwah. This is shown in the value-added statement under the ‘Donations’ item (Rs 101 Mn), which is alongside the Rs 125 Mn corporate social responsibility entry and not included within it (p.539), and it is described as a donation in both the Directors’ Report and Note 15 (pp.352, 405). When reading the report, keep the two amounts separate, and the report does this clearly.
How To Read The 14,780 Beneficiaries
The number most affected is 14,780. The impact table on page 165 shows the number of people associated with each of the fourteen tanks, and when you add these numbers together, they total 14,780. When compared with the family figures on page 152, each of these amounts equals 4 times the total number of families, both direct and indirect, in the tank.
| Tank (2025) | Families: Direct + Indirect (p.152) | Persons Printed (p.165) |
| Divuldamana | 637 + 600 = 1,237 | 4,948 |
| Menik | 235 + 350 = 585 | 2,340 |
| Kuda Kathnoruwa | 360 + 200 = 560 | 2,240 |
| Dewagiriya | 35 | 140 |
| All 14 tanks | 2,545 + 1,150 = 3,695 | 14,780 |
Source: Sampath Bank PLC, Annual Report 2025, pp.152 and 165. All fourteen rows follow the same relationship; four are shown. The multiplier of four is ESGNexus’s reading of the printed figures; the report does not state a household size.
It is common and reasonable to count people in households using a fixed household size, and this approach is used consistently here. Since the report doesn’t state this, a reader cannot tell whether a head count is actual or calculated. Two other figures should also be made clear. The strategy narrative mentions more than 8,000 people in the related communities in 2025 (p.31). In contrast, the data table gives 14,780 beneficiaries; for the same year, two different counts appear on separate pages without stating the basis for each. Likewise, the cumulative figure of over 16,000 families and over 4,000 acres for the 28 restored tanks (p.31) is given alongside the 2025-only figure of 3,695 families and 3,370 acres, so the definition of what is included in the cumulative figure should be stated.
The question of timing comes last: the report states that 28 of the 40 tanks had been restored by 31 December 2025 (page 31), and the figures for the 2025 acres and families apply to all 11 of the new tanks. If each tank had a marker indicating whether it was restored or still underway, readers could distinguish between the acres actually served and those planned.
Where The Report Does Not Yet Reach
The report describes a dependable water supply as enabling farmers to cultivate in both seasons, thereby increasing their harvests and income (p. 151). The report also includes the view of a president of a farmers’ association, who explains that the decline of the Awwadukulam tank has left the village unable to cultivate in both seasons (p.155). This testimony is what a careful before-and-after comparison would quantify. The table titled Impact Assessment (p.165) lists the beneficiaries and employee volunteering, since these are delivery indicators. However, it still does not include information on the seasons in which cultivation took place, the yield, or the income.
The second type of assurance is provided by Ernst & Young, which has issued a limited assurance opinion regarding the report’s economic, environmental, social and governance indicators, the date of this opinion being 19 February 2026 (pages 561 to 562), and another separate opinion on the SLFRS sustainability disclosures, covering pages 70 to 100 (page 68). In the first opinion, no pages or indicators are named, so a reader cannot determine whether the programme’s figures are included. In earlier reports, Sampath had specified the pages: in 2020 and 2021, EY provided reasonable assurance about the CSR page, as the ESGNexus report from September stated.
What The Next Report Could Add
1. State the household factor. One sentence saying that beneficiaries are families multiplied by four, and whether indirect families are included, would turn a calculated figure into a documented one.
2. Report seasons cultivated on a sample. Sampath already holds a tank-level table. Two added columns, seasons cultivated before and after restoration, would test the programme’s central promise for the tanks completed in 2023 and 2024.
3. Mark completed tanks. A status column, restored or underway at year-end, would tie the 40 undertaken to the 28 restored and clarify the 2025 acres.
4. Name what the assurance covers. Listing the indicators in the EY conclusion would tell readers whether tank costs, acres, and beneficiaries are among them.
Where Sampath Sits In The Market
ESGNexus has looked at community disclosure at Brandix, which gives a total figure for the group without breaking it down by programme, and at MAS Holdings, which divides its community activities into six categories but provides no figure for its flagship programme. Sampath is one step ahead of both: it has a specific programme with costs assigned to each asset, and these costs add up to the figure it states as its headline. Sampath thus shows that this level of detail is possible, and that this is the best argument any company that has not yet attempted it can put forward.
What To Watch
- Annual Report 2026: whether 2026 investment rises as the bank says it will strengthen restoration of tanks affected by Cyclone Ditwah (p.168).
- Whether the 12 tanks undertaken but not yet reported as restored by 31 December 2025 are shown as completed, with their acres.
- Whether the beneficiary basis, the 8,000 and 14,780 counts, and the cumulative boundary are stated in the next report.
ESGNexus tracks community investment disclosure across Sri Lanka’s listed and large private companies and will record Sampath’s 2026 programme figures against those published here.
Sources & Further Reading
Sampath Bank PLC, “Annual Report 2025”, year ended 31 December 2025 — cse.lk (pp.11, 15, 31, 49, 53, 68, 151–153, 155, 165, 168, 352, 405, 539, 551, 561–562)
ESGNexus, CSR figures and external assurance scope, 2020 to 2026 (Article #47), 16 September 2026 — esgnexus.lk
ESGNexus, “MAS Now Prices Its Community Work Line by Line. Its 22-Year Women’s Programme Still Has No Price.” (Article #50), 24 September 2026 — esgnexus.lk
ESGNexus, Brandix community programme FY2024/25 (Article #41), 4 September 2026 — esgnexus.lk
| About ESGNexus ESGNexus is Sri Lanka’s independent platform for ESG, CSR, and sustainability intelligence. We track company-level ESG performance, regulatory developments, and sustainability data across Sri Lanka’s listed companies, large unlisted corporates, and state-owned enterprises. All editorial content is independently produced. Sponsored content is clearly labelled. |
Data disclaimer: Information in this article is sourced from publicly available documents. ESGNexus does not independently verify company disclosures. Errors and omissions excepted.