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| Saturday, 9 August 2003 |
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Motorists in Sri Lanka will be able to experience the luxury of using a Super Highway in its true sense with the completion of the Southern Expressway by early 2008, the Road Development Authority states. The first expressway being built in the country at an estimated cost of Rs. 30.5 billion with the participation of foreign and local institutions is expected to bring a speedy economic and social reawakening to the South in particular and to the country at large. This would be one of the biggest infrastructure development projects undertaken by the Sri Lankan Government and second largest development project after the Mahaweli Development Scheme, the RDA stated in a press release. The main features of this km 126 expressway are that there will be no interchanges, byway crossings, pavements, zebra crossings or police whistling to disrupt motorists. There will be no incoming vehicles to slow down the speed. It would be a pleasure and a new experience for the motorists to use this expressway without interruption and drive in high speed in a country where undisciplined motorists and pedestrians, narrow, highly congested and pot holed roads, smoke belching and dilapidated vehicles are the trade mark of the transport system. A motorist who uses this expressway from Colombo will be able to reach Matara in less than one and half hours which is lesser than half of the time that takes to travel to Matara from Colombo through Galle Road. In the process of planning and construction 8866 plots of land, 1315 houses and 151 commercial buildings have either been acquired or partly affected. The total number of individuals affected due to this massive project are 20340. The total estimated cost for the ADB funded section is Rs. 11 billion and for the JBIC funded section is Rs. 17 billion while the estimated cost for land acquisition stood at Rs. 2.5 billion. The compensation component offered for acquired properties by the Road Development Authority which is the main project coordinator exceeds the existing market value. At the first stage the expressway will consist of four lanes - two on either sides - and the width of a lane would be 3.5 meters or over. With the completion of the final stage the expressway will have six lanes. The average speed of a vehicle that runs on this road is expected to be around 130 km per hour. There will be 16 bridges, 123 underpasses, 27 overpasses and 380 culverts along the entire stretch and the Ministry of Transport and Highways is expected to introduce a special road safety programme to ensure the safety of road users thereby bringing down the road accidents and road deaths in the country. |
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