Parawewa was invented in 1996 by Sri Lankan innovator Ranjith Dharmakeerthi Mannage, Managing Director of Parawewa (also known as Intelligence Constructions). The technology's patent certificate was granted in 2015 under Sri Lanka's Intellectual Property Act No. 36 of 2003, registered as Patent #16371. It went on to win 1st Place at the 2018 Presidential Innovation Awards in Sri Lanka and a Silver Medal at the 2019 International Innovation Competition in Canada.
Frustrated by the recurring problems he saw across Sri Lankan construction sites — leaking pits, groundwater contamination, and the constant recurring cost of gully bowser trucks — Ranjith Dharmakeerthi Mannage began developing an alternative approach to household sewage treatment in 1996. Rather than a sealed pit that simply stores waste until it must be emptied, he set out to design a system that actively treats it on an ongoing basis using naturally occurring bacteria, removing the need for both electricity and repeat suction visits.
From Idea to Registered Patent
It took years of iterative field testing before the design was mature enough to formally protect. The patent certificate for the technology was ultimately granted in 2015, registered under Sri Lanka's Intellectual Property Act No. 36 of 2003 as Patent #16371 — legally establishing Parawewa as the sole authorized manufacturer of the genuine Parawewa system in Sri Lanka.
National and International Recognition
- 2018 — Presidential Innovation Awards, Sri Lanka: Parawewa was placed 1st in the new innovation category, recognizing its impact on local sanitation and environmental protection.
- 2019 — International Innovation Competition, Canada: The technology went on to win a Silver Medal on the international stage, bringing recognition to Sri Lankan environmental engineering beyond the country's borders.
The Team and Company Behind Parawewa
Parawewa — operating under the name Intelligence Constructions for its broader portfolio — has been active for over 20 years, led by Managing Director Ranjith Dharmakeerthi Mannage. Alongside him, the company's core team includes Indra Somathilaka as Project Engineer and Jayatissa Pallearachchi as Manager of Business Promotion. Beyond Parawewa itself, the company's activities span building construction, transport of construction materials, organic farming, and environment-friendly projects including tree relocation, gardening, and landscape design — a portfolio that reflects the same environmental-protection principle the Parawewa system was originally invented to serve.
Three decades after the original 1996 concept, Parawewa has been installed across residential, industrial, and commercial sites islandwide — from factories like Nithya Papers (Horana) and JSW Apparels (Panadura) to housing schemes in Bokundara and apartment complexes in Kohuwala — each installation backed by the same 10-Year written warranty from Parawewa that the company has offered since formalizing the patented design.
