Development

Three elevated highways in the offing:

Road network to be further developed

By Shirajiv SIRIMANE

Sri Lanka's road network is undergoing a major transformation with not only the Expressway, but also with three elevated highways in Colombo. The elevated highways are to be constructed from Kirulapone to Kadawatha, Colombo Fort to Kottawa and from Colombo Fort to Peliyagoda.

The Kirulapone to Kadawatha highway (19 Km) will connect the Outer Circular Highway at Kadawatha and the Colombo-Katunayake Expressway at Peliyagoda, while the road from Colombo Fort to Kottawa (21 kms) will connect the Southern Expressway and Outer Circular Highway at Kottawa. The third will be from the Colombo Fort to Peliyagoda interchange on the Colombo- Katunayake Expressway (five kms). The proposal was made by President, Mahinda Rajapaksa in his capacity as Ports and Highways Minister to procure consultancy services through a contract with Egis Beecon International of France under ADB funding for feasibility studies and the outline design was approved by the Cabinet. It was also decided that the Engineering Faculties of local universities should be requested to undertake consultancy services.

Work under way at an elevated highway

An exit sign on the Southern Expressway

The road network of Malaysia

It is said that a superior road network was the key to Malaysia being elevated from an under-developed country to a developed country. It would also help investors to move their goods faster. thus reducing the cost of products. Several new enterprises such as petrol sheds, hotels, and shops would be built near the interchanges, providing new opportunities of business to entrepreneurs. Studies show that land prices have already increased over 70 percent near the exit points of the Southern Expressway. It was way back in the mid-1970s that talks were first held to construct a road from Peliyagoda to the Colombo International Airport. This was mainly targeting the Non Aligned Summit that was being hosted in Sri Lanka.

Consortium

Plans were drawn and even a few bridges were construed to build the highway. However, it never got off the ground and only the bridges and a huge red financial bill remained with the government as an example for a failed development project.

However, film makers, advertisers and politicians used the Peliyagoda Bridge for their hoardings and it's still an interesting guess if taxes were ever paid for advertising on this bridge.

After almost 30 years, the subject of an Expressway to the airport was again discussed and in 2000, a consortium once again got off the ground. However, this time around too financial problems put barricades to the project and it was stalled once again. With the rapid expansion of the Colombo airport and tourism booming, quick access to and from Colombo became a crying need. VIPs, investors, tourists as well as members of the public did not have nearly two hours to waste, travelling from Colombo to the airport.

President Rajapaksa intervened and negotiated with the Exim Bank of China to fund this project and it soon started moving again; today nearly 60 percent of the project has been completed. The investment for the project is US$ 292 million, which has been awarded on a Design and Build Basis.

If the Expressway was built 10 years ago, Sri Lanka could have saved about one billion rupees.

China Metallurgical Group Corporation from the People's Republic of China will be the contractor. This is one of the largest companies in the world and is listed among the world's largest 500 companies. (Fortune 500).

The Sri Lankan Government too would invest 15 percent of the cost. Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa said that plans are under way to extend the Colombo-Katunayake Expressway to Kalpitiya, targeting the proposed upmarket tourism zone. MP Namal Rajapaksa has also taken the initiative to extend the Southern Expressway up to Arugam Bay.

This would also link both the international harbour and airport, making the project more viable.