Kinniya bridge to open next week

by Rohana JAYALAL

Construction work on Sri Lanka's longest bridge, across the Kinniya bay, connecting Wellaimanal and Kinniya, has now been completed. It will be commissioned next week after the Southern Provincial Council polls, Minister of Highways and Road Development T. B. Ekanayake told the Sunday Observer.

The bridge was set up under the Eastern Province Resurgence project to link Trincomalee with Kinniya at the request of the President, to overcome the difficulties the people of the area have been encountering for a long period.

This is the longest bridge that is under construction on the A15 highway.

Trincomalee is one of the main cities of the eastern province.Civilians frequently cross the Kinniya lagoon to reach Kinniya and Muttur.

They used to cross the lagoon by ferry. The new bridge is 396 metres long and 10 metres wide and there are two pavements, each 1.5 metres wide, for pedestrians.

The Government of Saudi Arabia provided Rs.710 million to set up the bridge and a Chinese firm is handling the construction work. Construction was supervised by the Road Development Authority.