MoU to provide scientific and technical cooperation to develop roads
The Road Development Authority (RDA) of the Ministry of Highways and
Road Development signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the
National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) of the Ministry of Shipping,
Road Transport and Highways.
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B. P. Kukrety, Chief General Manager, National Highways
Authority, India exchanges the MoU with M. B. S. Fernando,
Chairman, Road Development Authority. In the background from
left R. W. R. Pemasiri, General Manager, Road Development
Authority A. P. Bahadur, Chief Engineer, Ministry of Shipping,
Road Transport and Highways, India; B. Shyam, First Secretary,
High Commission, India; S. Amarasekera, Secretary, Ministry of
Highways and Road Development, Richard Vokes, Country Director,
Asian Development Bank and T. B. Ekanayake, Minister of
Highways. |
The agreement is valid for five years on an extendable basis and is a
partner agency relationship, which focuses on the mutual interest in
institutionalising technical and scientific cooperation in the fields of
highway construction, maintenance and management of roads along with the
exchange of expertise, research results and knowledge.
The keynote address was delivered by T. B. Ekanayake, Minister of
Highways. Sirisena Amarasekera, Secretary, Ministry of Highways and Road
Development, M. B. S. Fernando, Chairman, RDA, R. W. R. Pemasiri,
General Manager, RDA along with the delegation of Indian High Commission
officials, senior representatives from the Indian private sector and the
NHAI and officials from the RDA and stakeholders from the road sector
were also present.
Secretary, Ministry of Highways and Road Development said, “We expect
that this agreement will help the two agencies to exchange various
technical information and expertise.
Under this MoU, we want to look at long-term technical cooperation,
where our officers would visit India and learn the planning, designing,
implementation and operation techniques used there, along with
opportunities to be able to work with NHAI officials to get hands on
experience.
We also hope to enhance the research capabilities, with a focus on
widening existing highways and more importantly, we will also carefully
study and learn the way in which India has undertaken the planning,
construction, operation and maintenance of expressways.”
“In comparison to Sri Lanka, India has a lot of experience especially
in terms of road widening and road network development. They have done a
great job in terms of innovating technology that is more appropriate for
the Asian context, from the type of construction material used, the
design parameters to their contract procurement system and road
maintanence, so we have a lot of benefits to gather from this,” he said. |
