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A9 opening brings immediate dividends

The peace process achieved a landmark yesterday with the reopening of the Jaffna - Kandy highway from Kilinochchi to Jaffna for the first time in 12 years.

The Government and the LTTE finalised preparations for the re-opening of the road as scheduled yesterday with the assistance of Norwegian peace facilitators, official sources said.

The LTTE marked this historic occasion by commencing a journey from Omanthai to Muhamalai. Colonel Banu and Deepan represented the LTTE on this occasion while Vanni Commander Major General Sisira Wijesuriya represented the Government.

However, the road was not completely opened for civilians and modalities regarding the resumption of bus services and goods transport along the road are yet to be worked out fully.

The opening of the A9 highway for non-military traffic in line with the Ceasefire Agreement reached between the Government and the LTTE will have far reaching economic and social benefits to the country.

The civilian population in the Jaffna peninsula who went through the agony of flying between Colombo and Palaly to attend to their needs paying as much as Rs.6,000 for the return journey will be the immediate beneficiaries of the road opening.

Once public transport resumes on this vital A9 route after the rehabilitation of the road, the people of Jaffna will have the chance of cutting their transport costs by at least Rs 5,000.

The Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Refugees Ministry has announced that at the initial stage, the National Transport Commission has made arrangements to run 70 buses from Colombo on the route including 30 CTB buses and 40 private buses. These buses will include normal and luxury buses, he said. Public transport services will also commence to Jaffna shortly from other cities like Kandy and Batticaloa.

President of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka (FCCISL) Macky Hashim said their chamber was one of the first associations to visit Jaffna to establish the Yalpanam Chamber, expecting the opening of the A9 road to boost industries in Jaffna.

He said the opening of the A9 road is important economically as it facilitates transport of goods to Jaffna from all parts of the country to reduce the cost of living in Jaffna. The cost of transport of goods by land will be only one tenth of the cost of transport by sea.

Mr. Hashim said the flow of agricultural products of the Jaffna peninsula such as red onion, big onion and potatoes will also reduce the cost of living of the people in the South.

They produce around 900,000 tons of onion per year. The production cost will be only Rs.20 to Rs.30 per kilo. The smooth flow of such products at least to one part of the country will greatly benefit the economy.

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