Expressway to ‘Wonder of Asia’

By Shirajiv SIRIMANE

The proposed Colombo Kandy Highway starting at Kadawatha.

A Highway in Malaysia

The ongoing construction at the Katunayake Expressway near the Airport Garden Hotel.

The Government is planning to build an expressway between Colombo and Kandy in addition to the existing highway, with 90 percent local resources. A plan for an alternative road to Kandy was only discussed in 2000 after nearly 175 years since the British Governor of Ceylon Edward Barnes directed the construction of a military road between Colombo and Kandy in 1831. It took the British 11 years to build a road linking Kandy with Colombo and this too was only confined to a discussion. However, under this Government a bold decision was taken to construct an alternative Highway to be completed in 5 years.

This proposed alternative road would be constructed as an expressway from Kadawatha to Katugastota. For the first time over 6.6 kilometers of this expressway from Gampaha to Veyangoda would be built on concrete pillars minimizing environmental hazards. This is mainly being planned as this area is prone to floods and to avoid sensitive river banks. Engineers say the cost to ‘go over’ would be cheaper and less risky than making it an overland road in the flood prone Gampaha area.

In addition, the Colombo Kandy Highway would also have 10 tunnels with some longer than half a kilometer.

The project was first offered to a foreign company but the government decided to do away with that contractor since their financial conditions were not favourable to the country. Now Sri Lankan engineers would be handling the project making Sri Lankans more proud of this venture. It would also save a lot of foreign exchange.

Two stages

The Government is planning to construct this Expressway in two stages with the first being from Kadawatha to Ambepussa. The distance would be 48.2 kilometers and the travel time would be less than 30 minutes. There would be four lanes with provisions for two more in the future, as and when the demand arises. This is expected to be completed in 2016.

The second stage would include another 50 kilometers ending at Katugastota and the total travel time would be less than one and a half hours. This is as against the present three hour drive.

It is estimated that Rs. 70 billion would have to be invested for the first phase which also includes the allocation for compensation and resettlement. The cost for the second stage would be Rs. 90 billion making it one of the most expensive projects in the country. The Asian Development Bank would be funding this project as a soft loan.

Engineers say that this is a timely investment and the highway can be guaranteed to last a century. A driver can travel to Kandy in one and a half hours and the saving on fuel alone justifies this project.

In addition the constructing of interchanges in remote areas would spur economic growth in these areas opening up new employment opportunities in many vistas. Toll stations would be introduced at all interchanges and these areas will see many restaurants and other business establishments being built to meet the demands of the highway users. Land prices in the area too would increase due to this and better accessibility to their land would give residents better bargaining power. New employment opportunities too would come their way.

One of the other important benefits of this project is the traffic burden on the present Colombo Kandy road being reduced by nearly 30 percent which will also reduce the travel time to Kandy. This would enable cargo transport become more economical bringing in advantages to the Agricultural, plantation and industrial sectors.

Future plans include the expressway being extended to the proposed Kundasale BoI zone.

Engineers admit the second stage progress would be slow as they have to conduct more feasibility studies and also have to dig tunnels through mountains and rocks. “However the Colombo Kandy Highway would be completed before 2019,” said Road Development Authority (RDA) Project Director, North East Expressway Projects, (Colombo Kandy Expressway) S. N. R. de Samarasinghe.

Link highway

He said that plans are now being studied to link this highway to the North East via Anuradhapura.

For the second stage ‘tricky’ stretches such as Kadugannawa have been avoided and the road would ply via Dewalagama (linking the Kurunegala road) Rambukkana, Hatharaliyadda (near Kegalle) Hedeniya and Katugastota. The main cities and main roads would be linked by constructing over and under passes while interchanges too would be introduced. These interchanges would be at Kadawatha, Gampaha, Balabowa, Meerigama and Ambepussa under the first phase and Dewalagama, Hatharaliyadda, Hedeniya and finally at Katugoastota. RDA has already started acquiescing of land and simultaneous payment of compensation and resettlement is also in progress in and around the Gampaha and Veyangoda area.

The ongoing construction at the Colombo-Katunayaka Expressway.

This expressway would be connected to the Outer Circular Highway currently being constructed linking the Colombo Matara Highway and the Colombo Katunayake expressway.

A motorist from the Colombo Airport could go to Kandy in just one and a half hours while a motorist from Matara could reach Kandy in less than three hours a dream which is now in sight.

Many investors shun Malaysia five decades ago saying that the country did not have a proper highway network.

One of the first things that was done by the Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed was to construct highways and he invited foreign companies to build them and operate them for 10 to 15 years charging a toll to recover their investment. This paid rich dividends as investors flocked to Malaysia and helped turn it into a developed country in less than a decade.

One of the biggest stumbling blocks in Sri Lanka becoming the wonder of Asia was the war and today with a Expressway network of this magnitude and the massive Port and airport and other infrastructure development taking shape Sri Lanka too can think of being a developed nation in less than a decade.