Sri Lanka's road network:

Fast-track route to prosperity

By Ranil Wijayapala

The Southern Expressway

The vision of a leader is the key factor that can stimulate any nation to tread the path of development. When Sri Lanka's development was held back for decades due to terrorism that engulfed the country, Mother Sri Lanka was desperately in need of a person who had the vision to fast-track the development which the country had been deprived of during the three decades of terrorism.

It was President Mahinda Rajapaksa who prioritised the requirements of the nation through his vision for the country - the Mahinda Chinthana in 2005 and Mahinda Chinthana Idiri Dekma - Forward Vision and geared the country to achieve those goals set out in his vision through multi-pronged approaches.

While providing a visionary and courageous leadership to the Security Forces to defeat LTTE terrorism, he lined up other development priorities after laying strong foundations for each of these sectors to grow fast with the liberation of the country from the clutches of terrorism.

Therefore, the development of the road network has always been a priority of his vision in the country even before he became the President of Sri Lanka in November 2005.

When he was elected Prime Minister after the April 2004 General Election, he also held the portfolio of Highways through which he laid a strong foundation to improve the road network of the country as he always believed that an improved road network and reduced travel time supplemented development and established closer links between people.

The Colombo - Katunayake Expressway

During his tenure as the Prime Minister and the Minister of Highways, he put into practice his understanding of the importance of developing the road network in the country with equal emphasis on urban and rural areas as more than 50 percent of the entire road network, including national and provincial roads, was in deplorable condition, requiring either rehabilitation or upgrading during that time.

Major challenges

There was a need to address the issues of inadequate capacity of trunk roads posing major challenges to the fast growing traffic due to traffic levels on the roads which had exceeded the design capacity and the reduced capacity of the road network due to unchecked roadside development. The road development projects also had to be undertaken, expecting the 50 percent of the population to live in urban areas in the country by 2015. Apart from that, rehabilitating the road network that was destroyed in the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami had to be accommodated in the agenda of road development.

To face the challenges in the road development sector due to financial constraints, he also took initiatives to increase Government allocations on road infrastructure, surpassing the allocations in many other sectors.

The preparation of the National Road Master Plan from 2007 to 2017 under his directive came in handy to address all the issues relating to the road development sector in the country.

That resulted in the launch of the Maga Neguma Rural Road Development program, a mass participatory program aimed at improving the rural road network as well as the rural economy.

He initiated the foundation of three public-private partnership companies using the assets of the former Road Construction and Development Company. Action was also taken to introduce a new National Thoroughfares Act to streamline the activities under his purview.

After being elected President, he introduced an accelerated program for the development of the road network through the Ministry of Highways. Several large-scale projects were undertaken, including the construction of steel flyovers to ease traffic congestion in the Colombo city and suburbs.

It was the rural masses who praised the Maga Neguma Rural Road Development after it was accelerated under President Rajapaksa's leadership to provide rural masses with better roads and access to the main highways. The introduction of the concrete block paving method as an effective long-lasting method for rural roads helped improve many rural roads with the community participation bringing rays of development to the remotest parts of the country. Through the 2010 Mahinda Chinthana Idiri Dekma - Forward Vision presented for the Presidential Re-election, he gave much emphasis to the road development sector as the country was by then, liberated from the clutches of terrorism, providing free access to the landmass of the country for development.

Topmost priority

By holding the portfolio of Ports and Highways, even after his re-election, he emphasises the necessity to give topmost priority for the road development sector and initiated many programs to kick start the long delayed expressway projects.

Under his leadership, the Government negotiated foreign assistance from many countries in Asia including China, India, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Korea and also European countries such as the UK, Spain and France and USA for development ventures. International aid organisations such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation also extended monetary assistance.

If not for his commitment to the development of the road network in the country, the citizens would still be trudging along the same old bumpy roads. "The Government's emphasis on developing roads has ensured that people spend less time on travel and have more time for work. I feel like the country has become smaller due to improved roads," expressing his vision behind the development of the road network, President Rajapaksa said.

It was due to his untiring efforts that the people of this country were able to cruise along Sri Lanka's first expressway, the Southern Expressway in November 2011 and later to experience the 20-minute drive from Colombo to Katunayake along the Katunayake Expressway from October 2013.

He never had second thoughts to obtain loans for the improvement of roads in the country as he always believed that it was one way of accelerating the country's economic development and stimulate investment in any part of the country. Through his vision for road development, he has opened up even the remotest parts of the country which were closed earlier for the main development agenda of the country.

There is no doubt that the extension of the Southern Highway up to Matara and the completion of the Outer Circular Road connecting the Southern Highway, the proposed Northern Highway and the Katunayake Expressway will definitely guide the country towards development.

The rehabilitated A-9 road to Jaffna, the improved 18-bend Kandy - Mahiyangana Road and the improved roads in the upcountry are witnesses for development, and it was not only the South that benefited from road development, but the entire population, in every nook and corner of the country. One cannot forget the fact that it was President Mahinda Rajapaksa who created the renaissance of the road network of the country, laying the solid foundation to make Sri Lanka the 'Wonder of Asia' soon.