Roads, mainstay of development

* Plans afoot to commission first expressway by early 2011

* 8,586 kms of rural roads developed under Maga Neguma

* 2,342 km of national highways widened and rehabilitated with asphalt carpet

* Nineteen major bridges and over 65 smaller bridges completed

by Dhaneshi YATAWARA

Everyday we try to avoid getting caught to the traffic moving in snails pace. It's a misery we all pray to end soon. These huge traffic blocks not only wastes our productive time it drains our pockets by raising the fuel cost due to unnecessary fuel burning.

For any country to develop, improving the infrastructure is mandatory. Electricity, water and roads are the main factors even an investor would consider. "I'm not saying other utilities are less important but road development is the key to other development work," said the Secretary to the Ministry of Highways and Road Development, Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda explaining the present and the future development goals of the country's road network.

According to the Secretary the total budget of the Ministry during 2009 was 87 billion rupees. And for 2010 they have proposed Rs. 110 billion and await Cabinet approval at present.

"Roads are a key factor in any country's development and especially for us, with the dawn of peace, being a main tourist attraction. We have beautiful beaches, a very rich cultural heritage, tropical rainforests, tea estate etc. One can move from one landscape to another within few hours. Foreigners love to visit these places but would not like to waste time on travelling. If the roads are developed and made comfortable to reach the destination in the shortest possible time, tourism will definitely boom as an industry," he added.

Bridging the gap

"Roads are a line of communication. Not only for development but in a country like ours where communal harmony is being strengthened, roads as lines of communication, will act as a conduit to bring people of all communities together. With developed road networks people of all ethnic groups will find it easy to move between North and South, East and West. Thus the polarization will not take place. It will bridge the cultural gap that developed over the past few decades," he said.

Road development is of paramount importance, the Secretary stressed. "With the end of the Korean War, the first major project activated by the President of Korea was to built a highway connecting the approximately 350 km distance between Seoul and Pusan, It is said that the project was completed within about 2 1/2 years. This was the turning point of Korea's development," Admiral Karannagoda explained.

"With the development of the new highways, the North and the South will get easily connected. The existing Colombo-Kandy Road is being improved under funding from different agencies. The construction of the four lane Colombo - Kandy Alternative Highway will also likely to commence in 2011. This expressway will be connected to the Outer Colombo Highway (OCH) at the Kadawatha interchange". Once the OCH becomes operational it is expected to reduce the traffic congestion in the Colombo city by nearly 30%.

With the new development drive taking place in the East, in approximately one month's time one can travel from Trincomalee to Pulmudai passing three new bridges without crossing a single ferry, covering about 50 km of newly asphalt laid road, in less than one hour. Already 2 of the three new bridges have been opened for the public. The third will be ready by end of this month.

New paths

Various funding agencies established across the globe assist us to upgrade our islandwide road network by way of grants and soft loans. "We as a country is recognised for our reliable 'pay back' record and therefore funding agencies are willing to assist us financially," he added. Among the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), China Exime Bank are the main funding agencies. European Union, OPEC and Saudi Arabia, Austria, United Kingdom and Korea are the others, who finance our projects.

"Soon after tsunami some of these funding agencies came to Sri Lanka. Some of them are one time funding schemes." Most of the roads destroyed by tsunami are completed now, he said.

"The money spent on express and high ways will be recovered in the form of foreign exchange savings on the country's fuel bill. We will be able to recover the money spent in another 10 - 15 years," Admiral Karannagoda confidently added stating that this capital outlay is an investment for the future. "In addition, the time wasted on roads will be reduced drastically with these developments thus contributing greatly to the productivity," he said. The operation costs of a vehicle will also be reduced thus saving the budget of individuals as well, he said. "This will definitely lessen the burden on people," he added.

The Southern Expressway funded by ADB and JICA consists of four sections - two funded by JICA, one by ADB, and the other by the China Exime Bank. Colombo-Katunayake Expressway funded by China Exime Bank is constructed by a leading Chinese company. The third mega project is the Outer Colombo Circular Highway (OCH) divided into three parts. For the first two parts the Government have received funds from JICA which is expected to fund the third part as well. The construction of the first part of OCH has already started. The second part will commence in 2 to 3 months time.

The other mega project is the Colombo - Kandy Alternate Highway for which the World Bank and the ADB has shown some interest. At the moment the land acquisition is going on and detailed designs are being prepared by the RDA design engineers. The construction work is expected to commence by the beginning of 2011.

The feasibility studies for the Matara-Hambanthota extension of the Southern Highway have been completed and the China Exime Bank has shown interest to fund this project.

The Mannar Bridge and the Causeway construction is a total grant from the Government of Japan and expected to open for the public during this month. Last month we have completed five mega bridges in Kalutara district alone funded by Austria. It was declared open for the public recently.

Expressways

We are hoping to commission the first expressway, the Southern Expressway, by early 2011, said the Secretary. "We hope to set up a separate Expressway Authority for toll collection and maintenance of expressways. The draft Act to set up the authority is being prepared and proposed authority will function like the Road Development Authority under the Ministry of Highways & Road Development," the Secretary stated.

Today the Ministry is paying more attention to maintenance of roads. Otherwise it would be a waste if maintenance is not properly done after constructing roads and spending so much of money. "We are introducing a performance based maintenance system which will be implemented after completing the new constructions and rehabilitation of roads. The funding agencies are expected to set aside a percentage of the funds to monitor and supervise maintenance after the completion of the projects.

Hi-tech maintenance

Foreign expertise is involved in road development projects as all of them are funded by foreign countries where the road networks are constructed with state-of-the-art technology. According to the Ministry we gain expertise from countries renowned for advanced road networks like Japan, USA, UK and Austria both on construction and maintenance. "These consultants are selected following rigorous procedures. This is a requirement by the funding agencies. We consider their background, experience in similar projects, qualifications and once selected the competence of the consultants are evaluated by the funding agencies as well. This is needed to maintain the high quality of the works", he further added.

Rural roads

There are about 117,000 km of roads in the country. Of these A and B class roads 11,900 km are maintained by the RDA under Ministry of Highways & Road Development and approximately 16,500 km, basically C and D class roads, come under Provincial Council purview and the balance, Local Authority Roads and Estate Roads.

"Rural roads are upgraded by our Ministry under the 'Maga Neguma' programme, a brainchild of President Mahinda Rajapaksa introduced when he was the Minister of Road Development and Highways in 2004. We concrete gravel roads and now we have introduced the technique of constructing roads using concrete blocks instead of concreting the entire roads, on a directive of His Excellency the President who is also the Minister of Highways and Road Development. The new technology enables the villagers to use the road the following day," Admiral Karannagoda added.

"This is very much a community-based project which is very popular among the villagers. Every year we have increased the funds allocated. This year three billion rupees have been allocated to concrete rural roads", Secretary added. "During the last four years, we have been able to widen & rehabilitate with asphalt carpet 2342 km of National Highways, concreting and gravel compaction of 8,586 km of rural roads under the Maga Neguma Rural Road Development Programme". This is in addition to completing 19 major bridges such as Kinniya, Benthota, Manampitiya, Arugam Bay, Mannar, Katugasthota, Hirana, Yan Oya, Erakkandiya, Poduwakattu etc. and more than 65 smaller bridges, Secretary Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda said.