MoU to upgrade road network
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MoU: National Highways Authority, India B P Kukrety, Chief
General Manager, exchanging the MoU with Chairman, Road
Development Authority, M B S Fernando.
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The Sri Lanka Government will explore technical cooperation with the
National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to have the best connected,
optimally designed and maintainable road network in the country.
The Government has planned a major programme of development - the
National Road Master Plan in the next ten years to overcome the capacity
constraints in the road sector.
The Road Development Authority (RDA) of the Ministry of Highways and
Road Development of Sri Lanka signed a Memorandum of Understanding with
NHAI of the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways of the
Indian Government.
The signing ceremony took place at the Intercontinental Hotel Colombo
last Friday. Secretary, Ministry of Highways and Road Development
Sirisena Amarasekara said the agreement is valid for five years on an
extendable basis and is a partner agency relationship, which focuses on
the mutual interest in institutionalising a technical and scientific
cooperation in the fields of highway construction, maintenance and
management of roads along with the exchange of expertise, research
results and knowledge.
He said Sri Lankan officials would visit India and learn planning,
designing, implementation and operation techniques used there, along
with opportunities to be able to work with NHAI officials to get hands
on experience.
India has lot of experience in terms of road widening and road
network development and they have done a great job in terms of
innovating technology that is more appropriate for the Asian context,
from the type of construction material used, the design parameters to
their contract procurement system as such we have lot of benefits to
gather," he said.
The MoU was followed by a workshop on the technical and scientific
cooperation between Sri Lanka and India, where a wide range of topics
such as road policy, financing option for road development, quality
standard in road infrastructure as well as public - private partnership
in road infrastructure development were presented.
The RDA is entrusted with the responsibility of developing and
maintaining all classified A and B roads, totalling up to 11,900 km of
roads and 3,900 bridges.
The NHAI was constituted by an Act of Parliament, which was the
National Highways Authority of India Act 1988.
It is responsible for the development, maintenance and management of
national highways entrusted to it. (RK)
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