Colombo-Kandy expressway to be expedited

Rajmi MANATUNGA

COLOMBO: The Highways Ministry has decided to expedite the Colombo-Kandy expressway project.

Ministry sources told the Daily News that tenders will shortly be called for carrying out the construction of expressway.

According to the Ministry, the Malaysian Government has expressed interest in providing financial assistance for the project which seeks to reduce the travelling time from Colombo to Kandy.

A memorandum of understanding has already been signed between Malaysia and Sri Lanka in 2003 for the construction of the expressway.

"The Malaysian government will present their proposals on the project in the next few weeks. The amount of assistance to be provided by Malaysia and the dates for commencing work will be decided after evaluating these proposals," Director in charge of the project Pushpa Gunaratne said.

The estimated cost of the Colombo-Kandy expressway project is around Rs 10.6 billion.