Upcountry road repairs cost billions

Kandy special correspondent

The heavy rains of the recent past caused severe damages to the road network in Matale-Kandy and Nuwara Eliya.

Some rural roads too suffered the same fate, said the Central Provincial Minister of Highways Development - Bandula Yalegama. He said renovation of roads cost about Rs. 10 billion.

This is in addition to temporary repairs already done to facilitate the public highway engineers of the districts have estimated and submitted a detailed report of funds required.

They said that Matale has to spend over Rs. five billion, and Nuwara Eliya and Kandy have a target of Rs. 2b and Rs. 2 b 500 lakhs.

The CP-Minister of Road Dev. further said the repairs would be closely monitored - as the Provincial Secretaries too have been called upon to cooperate to get this work done satisfactorily.