Sri Lanka's second 'E' grade road opens on October 27:

Colombo to Katunayake in 20 minutes

By Ranil Wijayapala

When Sri Lanka had its first expressway experience in 2011, with the opening of the Southern Expressway the first 'E' grade road in the country, the people were eagerly awaiting that experience and were ready to go on the expressway believing it would be their only opportunity to be on it.

But within a short time expressways have become a part of their daily life as they now see the construction of expressways be it the Southern Expressway, Outer Circular Road, Northern expressway or the Colombo - Kandy expressway.

Negombo lagoon

Inspection by Ministers and officials

Monitoring Centre at Seeduwa. Pictures by Thilak Perera

Toll collecting centre

Katunayake Airport junction

Hunupitiya junction

Nearly two years after the first expressway experience in 2011, Sri Lankans are now on the threshold of their second expressway experience in Sri Lanka as dates are already been fixed for the grand opening of Sri Lanka's second 'E' grade road, Colombo - Katunayake expressway to October 27, 2013.

The second expressway experience in Sri Lanka will not only be an expressway connecting two cities in the country but will also be tipped to be a fastest access road to the world outside Sri Lanka, as it aims at reducing the travel time of thousands of travellers to and from Sri Lanka's first international airport, Katunayake international airport.

The newly constructed expressway has made Katunayake International Airport only a few minutes away from the commercial capital of the country, relieving the burden of many.

Just weeks ahead of the opening of Sri Lanka's second expressway last Tuesday media personnel had first hand experience on the expressway along with the Project Minister for Ports Development and Highways, Nirmala Kothalawala and the officials of the Highways Ministry.

Compared to taking one hour to measure the first expressway experience in Sri Lanka from Kottawa to Galle, the second experience of expressway could be measured in minutes, though Sri Lanka struggled for decades in the construction of this expressway. One may be puzzled why Sri Lanka took such a long period to make this project a reality as this could have given a positive impression of the country for thousands of visitors to Sri Lanka.

Motorists can enter the Katunayake expressway from the Kelani bridge at Peliyagoda, and they will not be issued tickets from the Kelani bridge. Vehicles entering the road from Kelani bridge entrance can have free access to Peliyagoda and Wattala via Peliyagoda interchange which is considered the entrance to the expressway fixed with toll gates. The Peliyagoda interchange is having access to Thorana junction on Kandy road and Wattala on the Colombo Negombo road.

Though the expressway is designed to provide easy access to the Katunayake international airport the expressway will also provide easy access to Ja-ela while facilitating easy accessibility to cities such as Negombo enabling motorists to bypass the usual Colombo - Negombo road upto Katunayake junction.

"If one using this road enter from Kelani bridge and exit from the Jaela interchange they can pay the fee from Ja-ela entry exit point. If someone goes upto Katunayake, they can enter the road from the Katunayake junction entry exit point," Secretary to the Ministry of Port Development and Highways Ranjith Pemasiri said explaining operational aspect of the expressway.

"For the motorists entering the road from Ja-ela we are issuing an electronic card and they can pay the fee after submitting that card at the Katunayake entry/ exit point. If some one going towards Peliyagoda after entering the road from Ja-ela they can exit from Peliyagoda after paying the fee from there", he said. The expressway has only two interchanges located at Ja-ela and at Katunayake junction. The Keravalapitiya interchange will be added to the road once the construction work of the Outer Circular Road is completed. When Outer Circular Road is connected to the Katunayake expressway it will cater to the people in the South also to have easy access to Katunayake International Airport.

The Ministry of Highways is still in the process of finalising the fee for the vehicles using the expressway and will be gazetted soon and notified to the public through media, the Secretary said.

"One specialty of this road is the variable message signs throughout the expressway to notify the motorists about the temperature, weather condition ahead and about accidents if such accidents occur on the express way. These messages are disseminated from the Expressway Monitoring Centre at Seeduwa", he said.

The expressway monitoring centre located at Seeduwa is equipped with broad screened computers to view the road at any point through CCTV cameras installed along the road and established in accordance with the international standards.

"At the moment we inform in English but we are expecting to disseminate the messages in Sinhala language also to make motorists aware about the road conditions and other important information prior hand", he said.

"This centre can monitor the entire road from one location and the centre will be equipped with fire control unit, ambulances and breakdown vehicles. If a person face any difficulty while driving on the road they can call 1969 and inform the operators", Pemasiri said.

"The other special feature included in this expressway is that we have installed telephone booths to be used on emergencies, unlike in the Southern Expressway", he said.

"At present we are expecting to provide a safe journey for motorists between Peliyagoda and Katunayake within 15 to 20 minutes. We are not allowing bicycles, three-wheelers, motorcycles tractors and carts, but all the other vehicles will be able to make use of this road", he said.

Within that 15 minutes drive you may be able to enjoy the scenic beauty of the Muthurajawela marsh. You may be surprise to see vivid scenes of the Negombo lagoon as you close onto Katunayake from Colombo. But nobody will be permitted to stop and enjoy a scene.

"We have spent US $ 350 million for this project. Though the construction of this road was started 15 years ago the construction work was abandoned. But now we have been able to complete this project under the guidance of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The Project office and the staff of the Road Development Authority and the Highways Ministry have been able to complete this project within the given time frame.

If we could go ahead from the time the construction work began we would have been able to complete this project much earlier. If not for the guidance and the leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa this project would not be a reality today", he said.

Project Minister for Port Development and Highways Nirmala Kothalawala said that Colombo Katunayake expressway has become a reality under the visionary leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa as he was committed to turn the dreams of the nation into reality under Mahinda Chinthana program.

"People of this country expected this project to happen for decades. That was a dream they had in their mind when they were dealing with the international community. President Mahinda Rajapaksa made this dream a reality by successfully completing the Katunayake expressway project", explaining the way the long awaited dream came into reality the Minister said.

"To celebrate the occasion we are allowing the people around this expressway and the general public to have a look on this expressway on October 22, 23 and 24. Many events will be organised under the patronage of Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa to entertain the people who are coming here on these days", Minister Kothalawala said.

"We are inviting all the people to take this opportunity to visit the road and enjoy the scenic beauty of the expressway prior to the grand opening of the road on October 27", he said.

"With the opening of this expressway the time spent travelling to and fro Katunayake airport will be reduced drastically. This will also immensely contribute towards the development of the country as a whole. People of this country was able to enjoy all these facilities due to Mahinda Chinthana program", the Minister said.

He said the project has been implemented giving topmost priority to protect the environment as it goes through the Muthurajawela marsh land. "President Mahinda Rajapaksa has instructed us to give priority for the protection of the environment in future too", he said.

Commenting on the Opposition criticism over the project, the Minister said their criticism over the obtaining of loans for development activities were always there.

"We are making use of these loans exclusively for development activities. Without such development we cannot go forward as a nation. The benefits of these projects are enjoyed by all the citizens of this country and there is no obstacle in paying back those loans when we are getting the benefits out of these projects. This is not applicable only for the Katunayake expressway, but also for other development projects in the country too", he said.

"When we constructed the Southern expressway the Opposition made criticism. But today we know those who criticised the project are the ones who use of the road. Therefore this is a basic requirement for the development of the country and those criticisms are not valid when we consider the benefits we gained through the development of the country", he said.

He said apart from the foreign funding, the Government has also spent funds for the project. "What we should consider is not the amount we are spending but the benefits we are enjoying with these development projects. What we should consider is not the interest rate of the loan but the number of vehicles using the expressway. According to estimates more than 15,000 vehicles will use this road daily. The savings we can make through this project can be invested for the future development of the country", the Minister said.