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| Sunday, 25 July 2004 |
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Full steam ahead for Colombo Matara highway by Hiran H.Senewiratne In a bid to put the country's economy in the fast track, the government has decided to expedite the construction work on the Colombo- Matara highway before the end of this year. The Ministry of Highways is now in the process of earmarking properties for acquisition, so that work on the highway can begin at least by November, Secretary to the Ministry of Highways Sarath Amarasekera said. According to Amarasekera the 127 km long highway project is funded by two funding agencies, namely the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Japanese Bank for International Corporation (JBIC). The length of the JBIC- funded section is 66 km, from Kottawa to Kurundugahahetekma is estimated to cost 18 billion and the ADB section which is 61 km in length from Kurundugahahetekma to Godagama, close to Matara will cost Rs 9 billion, he said. Amarasekera said that more than 10,000 land lots and 1400 buildings are earmked for acquisition, while more than 1298 families will be moved out to make the way for construction of the highway. Construction work in the ADB section commenced in April 2003 and a fair amount of work has been accomplished. The period of the contract is 40 months, Secretary to the Ministry of Highways said. He said that for the JBIC section, tenders have been submitted by pre-qualified bidders and are now being evaluated by a Technical Evaluation Committee. The process continued without hiccups except at Gelenigama village in Bandaragama Divisional Secretary's Division and in Akmeemana Divisional Secretary's Division, caused by delays due to Court cases . The Secretary also said that after the decision of the Supreme Court, some affected people are obstructing the land acquisition process. He said that "resistance appears to be waning and we are pursuing to resolve disputes through negotiations". He said that compensation over and above the governmant Valuers estimation will be paid to families who will be displaced by the acquisation by their lands and dwelling places. The resettlement of 1298 affected families will be carried out at two levels.They will be resettled in fully= serviced resettlement sites provided by the Road Development Authority and sites selected by affected people themselves, for which they are entitled to an additional allowance, Amarasekera said.The project has been approved by the Central Environmental Authority. Total investment for this project will be around Rs 29 billion, which is a soft loan, for while the repayment period is 15 years.The highway is expected to be completed by the year 2009. |
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