High-rise buildings to come up above rail tracks

by Ananda KANNANGARA

The Railways Department would construct 13 full-fledged high-rise buildings at coastal line railway stations located from Slave Island to Panadura under a special development program, commencing from January.

According to the program, high-rise buildings would be constructed at Slave Island, Kollupitiya, Bambalapitiya, Wellawatta, Dehiwala, Mt.Lavinia, Ratmalana, Angulana, Lunawa, Moratuwa, Koralawella, Egodauyana and Panadura railway stations.

Director Planning, Railways, Wijaya Samarasinghe told the Sunday Observer that all 13 buildings are constructed above the railway tracks of each station, while five floors from the ground floor up would be used as vehicle parks.

The other floors would be used for supermarkets, housing complexes, mini shops, pharmacies and vegetable and fish markets. Each building would also consist of rest rooms for train commuters as well as foreign tourists, conference halls, hotels, a cinema hall and a swimming pool.

Samarasinghe said the construction of each building would be carried out in collaboration with private sector investors under the supervision of the Strategic Enterprise Management Agency (SEMA), Railways Department, Urban Development Authority and Local Government Authorities.

"Cabinet approval has already been granted for the project which would get under way during the first two months of next year. Similar buildings would be constructed at other railway stations in the future," he said.