After four-and-a-half decades:

Katunayake Expressway opens on October 27

By Ranil Wijayapala

The Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) at Katunayake being linked with the commercial capital of Colombo through a speedy access road was a long-awaited dream for Sri Lankans. The vagaries of politics, lack of resources, protests over human displacement and environmental damage and most importantly, economic constraints made that a long overdue dream for this country.

Landscaped sections of the Katunayake Expressway

Katunayake Expressway, ready for opening

The completed Expressway

Sign boards along the Katunayake Expressway

Today, after four and a half decades since the first proposal to construct an easy access road from Katunayake to Colombo was mooted in 1968, Sri Lanka has managed to end an era confined to discussing the project after fixing October 27, 2013 as the date for the grand opening of the Colombo - Katunayake Expressway, making the BIA the first international airport in the country to be located just 20 minutes from the Colombo city.

Sri Lanka is ready to take the second stride in the field of expressways as it gets ready to welcome the Heads of State from Commonwealth nations next month. This would not only mark another milestone in the field of highways of the country, but an important milestone in international relations as well.

According to Project Minister of Ports and Highways Nirmala Kothalawala, Sri Lanka could make this expressway project a reality as President Mahinda Rajapaksa, as the leader of the country and as the Minister in charge of Highways, created the environment to implement the highways as an essential project for the country at a time it was facing challenges.

Ups and downs

Information available on the expressway project indicates that it had many ups and downs and was subjected to quite a few controversies from the date it was proposed in 1968. The project faced many challenges in the legal frontier and also due to people's protests from its planning stages due to its 'impact' on the environment and the public settlements.

However, it is evident that the political will and determination of President Rajapaksa to implement the project despite all challenges became a key factor in making this project a reality.

Though the initial proposals were to complete the project by pumping sand from the Kelani river, the project has been completed with the use of sea sand.

After the first attempt for the project in 1968, in 1982, at the request of the Government of Sri Lanka, the Government of Japan agreed to conduct a feasibility study regarding the expressway, and entrusted the task to a Japanese agency.

The Japanese agency, in its report released in January 1984, recommended the construction of an expressway to the east of the Colombo - Negombo road.

However, it was in 1989 that the Road Development Authority mooted the concept of an expressway connecting the Colombo city and the BIA as the traffic along the Colombo - Negombo A-3 road increased by almost 250 percent from 1981 to 1991.

During President Ranasinghe Premadasa's tenure, a decision had been taken to construct an expressway connecting the Colombo Port and airport as an urgent urban development project.

Accordingly, a consultancy agreement was signed on May 3, 1991 between the Urban Development Authority and Japan Bridge and Structure Institute Inc. (JBSI) for certain services including the review and update of the previous feasibility study, preparation of the detailed design, carrying out of a comprehensive environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the project and preparation of the implementation project and tender documents.

However, those attempts didn't come to fruition and the proposal to construct an alternative highway between Colombo and the BIA was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers in August 1995 subject to an acceptable financing arrangement and the selection of the final trace among the many traces offered.

Muthurajawela marsh

Though the project was started in the year after selecting a trace running through the Muthurajawela marsh and the Negombo lagoon in 2000 after offering the tender to a Korean company, it had to be abandoned due to lack of funding from the government even after 30 percent of the construction work had been completed at the time of the project being abandoned. The project was estimated to cost around Rs 12 billion at the time.

After the failure of the first few attempts, in May 2006 the Cabinet approved a proposal to construct the expressway with financial assistance from the EXIM Bank of China on a 20-year loan scheme The estimated cost of the road was Rs. 292.4 million. China Metallurgical Group Corporation was awarded the contract to construct the expressway.

The construction agreement was signed in 2008 and the loan process took more than one year. Construction work started in August 2009 for a contract period of 36 months

According to Project Director Pushpa Gunaratne, the Katunayake Expressway has now been completed by a labour force of about 1,000 locals who are direct employees and with the contribution of over 50,000 people indirectly involved and about 500 Chinese personnel.

"The cost of the project increased over the years due to the increased scope of work and new methods adopted in addition to increased safety requirements, which was included in the total estimated cost of the project", he said.

Four interchanges

According to the Project Director, the Expressway is composed of 100 box culverts and about 40 bridges along with four interchanges at New Kelani Bridge, Peliyagoda, Ja-ela and Katunayake. Another interchange will be added at Kerawalapitiya to connect the Outer Circular Road to the Expressway.

"The most challenging task related to the project was to complete it with minimum inconvenience to the public and enabling the smooth flow of traffic when constructing the viaduct over the Colombo - Negombo road at Mabole and the Katunayake Airport junction and at the Hunupitiya level crossing. We faced those challenges effectively using the latest technology and efficient management of the project", he said.

He said the landscaping along the Expressway will be a highlight which is not seen in the Southern Expressway. "We will maintain this as an eco-friendly road with beautiful landscaping in the middle of the road. The beauty of the road will be enhanced when it runs parallel to the Muthurajawela marsh and the scenic Negombo lagoon", Gunaratne said.Variable Sign Messages installed along the Expressway will be another novel feature.

"We also plan to have an electronic toll system in the Expressway. Unlike the receipt issued in the Southern Expressway, it will be an electronic card, enabling people to pay the charge using cards", he said.

"We will have our main control room in Seeduwa. From there we will control the Expressway and the entire road will be under CCTV surveillance. Similar to the Southern Expressway, the Seeduwa control room will also have a Fire Brigade, Police station and toll centre monitoring system with CCTV cameras", he said.

Since the Expressway has been constructed after filling the environmentally-sensitive Muthurajawela marshland, drastic measures have also been taken to mitigate the environmental impact from the project, especially with regard to mitigating floods.

"To mitigate floods in Muthurajawela, we constructed 42 bridges to facilitate the smooth flow of water. Another 102 large-sized box culverts were also constructed to facilitate the smooth flow of water in the marshland", he said.

Flood mitigation

"We are improving the Dutch Canal along the Muthurajawela marsh to mitigate floods in the area due to road construction and the canal will be widened to 40 metres.

"This canal is about eight kilometers in length and at some areas, sections of this canal could not be seen as it has been neglected for a considerable period. The project has already been completed, giving a new look to the area", he said.

The Muthurajawela terrace was selected for this project since it avoids the displacement of the public. Only 700 families had to be shifted to facilitate this project and they have been compensated at a cost of Rs.3 billion.

"By doing so, we incurred an additional cost. Although the project was estimated to cost US$ 292 million, it cost US$ 335 million, for construction purposes alone", he said.

Explaining the plans to reduce the expected traffic congestion at the Peliyagoda junction, Gunaratne said a new bridge across Kelani Ganga will reduce the traffic and will be completed within the next two years.

Once that bridge is constructed, there is a plan to connect this road to an elevated highway starting from Peliyagoda.

"The traffic congestion can be managed in the future once those structures are completed", he said.

"Once the road is commissioned on October 27, we expect around 10,000 vehicles to use this road. We are now in the process of finetuning the system to get ready for the grand opening by President Mahinda Rajapaksa", he said.